


Soul Bound

by IllusionEvenstar



Category: Kim Possible (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Characters Are in Fandom, F/M, Fantasy, Spin-Off, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-06
Updated: 2017-11-06
Packaged: 2019-01-30 09:55:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 23,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12651243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IllusionEvenstar/pseuds/IllusionEvenstar
Summary: Ron gets visited by 6 weird spirits during Valentine's Day Eve in this Christmas Carol spinoff





	1. The Warning

**Author's Note:**

> Old fic I wrote in 2005
> 
> This is a rather weird twisted parody version of The Christmas Carol, coz there'll be a few of my own original characters playing the Ghosts of Time. So, enjoy and laugh it off while you can! 
> 
> Note: This is AU and has nothing to do with So the Drama

            "Kim Possible, can I have your autograph?"

            "No, Kim Possible, please sign mine first!"

            "No, mine!"

            "No, mine!"

            "Mine!"

            Kim brought her sunglasses closer towards her eyes and made a dash for it. Cameras were flashed at her face and the paparazzis were urging her to say a few words for the press or their magazines. Ron shielded Kim as Monique ushered her into the limousine. They slammed the door in relief as the car blocked out most of the hapzardous noise outside.

            "Man! That was crazy!" Ron groaned.

            "Yeah, girl," Monique agreed. "That was the most outrageous mob I've ever seen!"

            "Tell me about it," Kim rolled his eyes. "I've seen worse stampedes in Africa than this."

            "Where to, Miss?" the driver asked, craning his neck towards Kim.

            "To the hotel, Chuck please. I need to get some grub."

            "Cheese!" Rufus chirped, popping out of Ron's pocket.

            "Yes, Rufus," Kim chuckled. "And cheese."

            "Right away, Miss," Chuck the driver replied as he drove off towards the direction of the hotel.

            Kimberly Anne Possible had never expected her life to turn this drastically. It all started after that talent time contest. Although it was Ron who won the contest, Kim's singing had won admiration of many in Middleton High, and that includes a star agent. He was there when he heard Kim hitting the high pitch and he was impressed. He approached her and said what all star agents say when they've found talent. Took quite a lot of coaxing, and a lot of backup from Ron and Monique, but it wasn't long before Mr. & Mrs. Possible came in and made a deal with the agent and voila! Kim was soon whisked away towards fame and fortune, not to the delight of Bonnie, of course. Kim quit Middleton High and the agent hired a tutor to help her finish grade school (Mr. Possible insisted that his little Kimmie-cub get an education and a college degree even if she's busy and famous). Ron and Monique tagged along too, claiming to be her managers or something like that. But truthfully they're just wanting to be out of Middleton and sharing the limelight with her. Not that their parents were too keen about it to agree with it, but they have went on their knees for this, so they, too, sat with her in the same room under the same tutor. At least there was someone to suffer with her.

            She was hitting top records and breaking up charts. She was going places, well, besides during missions. They made it clear to the agent that she would never quit world-saving, not even under her tight schedule. She'd rather miss the world tour than letting the world go down to the dumps. So, despite her busy days, she was still able to stop a villain or two, like Dr. Drakken from stealing the world's most expensive laser cannon or Monkey Fist from destroying famous kung fu temples or even our famous mad golfer Duff Killigan from bombing China's golf course.

            "Here we are, Miss," the driver said after quite a while of driving. "The Belladonna Hotel."

            "Thanks, Chuck," Kim replied as she, Ron and Monique got off the car. She saluted him before watching him drive off towards the nearest parking lot. Making sure that no one was there to mob her or bug her for autographs and pictures, they went in to enjoy a long tasty meal. Lucky for them, it was buffett dinner tonight, so they could tuck in as much as they want. Ron was the happiest to see cuisine after cuisine before his eyes ready to be feasted upon. The famous trio got a few samples for themselves before getting themselves a seat and digging in.

            "Man, I never thought that the hall of fame would be so strenuous," Ron said as he popped a chicken kebab into his mouth. "They sure work up an appetite."

            "Well, those press conference and the concert coming in does make me feel hungry and sorts. I sure like to fill myself up after a long day's work," Kim agreed, biting off a drumstick.

            "So how's the new song coming up? Any ideas?" Monique asked as she sipped her latte.

            "Well, that'll have to depend on Ron now. After that song he wrote for my talent contest, he's my main song writer."

            "Booyah! I'm the man!" Ron grinned victoriously. "There's still pretty much more strings to pull, but I'm working on it."

            "I still can’t believe we are actually walking around like superstars and get so much publicity and fans! This is way better than kicking bad guy butt! And we’re actually right here, in Paris! Won't your parents be worried about you traveling here and there with only us as company?"

            "It's no big, Monique. I've been traveling here and there ever since we started crime-fighting," Kim waved that question away. "Mom and Dad couldn't be happier, now that their famous crime-fighting daughter is a famous _singing_ crime-fighter. Besides, Dad thinks keeping me on my toes like this is better than getting involved with some guy."

            "Hah!" Monique snorted. "Wait till he sees the news about the latest gossip or something! You'll be worse than when Brad Pitt married Jennifer Aniston!"

            "Ha ha, very funny, Monique," Kim replied dourly. "I assure you, no guy is gonna get to me right now."

            "Check it out, girl, at 12 o'clock! I just went from 'So' to 'Woah'!" Kim turned to see who she was pointing and wrinkled her nose, unimpressed.

            "Oh, come on, Monique. Even Adam Sandler is better looking than he is!"

            Ron stared quietly at Kim as she and Monique continued to joke around. Rufus noticed the look and grinned inwardly. It wasn't new to him that his master has been having this ailing crush for Kim. He had noticed it ever since Ron bought him from Smarty Mart, and had been keeping on check secretly to see if the crush was still there, well, just for the fun of it. Through experience, the little naked mole rat had been noticing the change of expressions and small movements Ron's been doing every time he's with Kim. Why the sudden change since they've been friends—and only friends—like forever? Well, thanks to Camp Wannaweep. After Ron came back from his nightmarish experience in Dorm 13 of Camp Wannaweep, the first thing he did was run to Bueno Nacho to have a good decent meal. He invited Kim to meet up with him and join him, and when she did appear, he realized that summer had changed Kim so much in a way that made him see her from a total different perspective. Hence, the crush began.

            Nevertheless, despite every single chance he had to confess to Kim about his feelings, he forfeited it. Every time there was an open ticket, a perfect moment for him to just enlarge his pie hole and blurt it all out, something else inside him let out a huge imaginary hinge and clenched his heart, forcing his mouth shut. His pulse would go twice the rate and his tongue would go numb every time he even tries to say “I have a crush on you”, and he’s lucky to just get by without experiencing cardiac arrest. Her hanging with Walter Nelson and Josh Mankey back then really hurt him to the bone, yet he couldn’t bring himself to tell her that he could be worth more than those 2 guys put together. He’d rather bottle it up all in his heart than risk rejection. Such is a heart in love.

            “Yo, girl! You realize Valentine’s Day is around the corner now, don’t you?” Monique suddenly voiced out, breaking Ron’s musing.

            “Yeah, now that you mentioned it, it’s gonna be tomorrow. Why?” Kim asked, surprised.

            “You got a gig tomorrow, girl!” Monique replied as she checked her PDA. Aside from Ron being Kim’s songwriter, Monique made it her solemn duty to manage Kim’s life and activities. “You got a Valentine promo concert down at Upperton Town and at the same time, promote your latest Valentine’s Day album ‘Lost in Loveville’, remember?”

            “Oh yeah, you’re right, Monique. I almost forgot about that. Ron wrote almost all the songs in there and it was the chart topper for 3 weeks in a row. I wonder where you get your inspiration, Ron?”

            “Oh, around,” Ron replied as casual as he could while swallowing a mouthful of lasagna. Rufus helped himself to some meatballs and garlic.

            “You sure you haven’t had any broken hearts before to write this?” Monique asked suspiciously, sipping her drink.

            Ron shook his head. Broken hearts. The only time he could ever feel the impact of his broken heart was Valentine’s Day. He knew he shouldn’t be having any grudges with this day but he couldn’t really help it. The sight of loving couples walking around showing their affections towards each other while he sits aside, watching them with envious eyes, really tore him apart. How he wished he could tell how many times his heart broke when she starts having crushes on guys or when she doesn’t realize any of the hints he’s trying to drop on her. How he wished he could tell her that Tara’s kiss back at Camp Wannaweep in the case of Gill’s attack meant nothing, and that his pursuit to catch that girl in the movie ticket booth (I forgot her name :p) was just an act so that he could try and forget his terrible crush for Kim, which didn’t really work. In the end they broke it off as mere friends. How he wished he could just say everything that was bottled inside him and give her a big kiss, claiming her as his own. But he couldn’t. He just couldn’t.

            “I’m, uh, gonna head back to my room,” Ron said as he cleaned his hands on a cloth.

            “So soon?” Kim turned to him. “Aren’t you gonna hang around with us and catch a little movie or something? I heard there’s this new movie called…”

            “I’m getting another inspiration for a new song and I want to write it down before I forget it,” Ron replied. “See you guys later. You can bring Rufus along if you want.”

            “Me?” Rufus asked, surprised.

            “Yes, little guy, you. I just wanna be alone with my thoughts for a while to do this new song. It’s a very special song and I don’t want any distractions this time.”

            “OK, big boy. If you say so,” Monique shrugged and went off to get a second helping. Kim was still a little concerned.

            “Are you sure you don’t want to…”

            Ron didn’t reply. Shoving Rufus towards Kim, he walked as quickly as he could out of the restaurant and towards the lift that will take him to his room.

*

            “Ugh! Who am I kidding?”

            Ron let his body fall freely onto the King-sized bed with a muffled thump. He let out a sigh as he stared up at the ceiling thinking about that lie he told Kim just to get away from her. Well, it wasn’t exactly a lie. He did have a special song to be written. The only thing that it had already been complete a long time ago, back when he was still in grade school, yet couldn’t find the courage to show it to Kim. He wrote it the very first day he discovered Kim’s beauty after Camp Wannaweep and didn’t sleep until he wrote it down till the last detail. It had started out as a love poem, and then somehow morphed into a song the more he looked back at it. Until now, he had kept this secret song well hidden from the eyes of the world, including his own pet Rufus and most importantly, Kimberly Anne Possible. Quietly, he fished out the book that contained the song he wrote and stared at the picture that was glued onto another page beside the one that had the song written on it.

_You got a Valentine promo concert down at Upperton Town, girl…_

            “Valentine’s Day…Huh! Right! Another day where I have to suffer looking at those lovie-dovies out there while I sit here wallowing in self-pity. What I give to just let this day go away…or maybe just disappear in the face of the earth, then I don’t have to go through a day thinking that it will come and haunt me, remind me of how low and cowardly I’ve gone to hide my feelings for Kim.”

            Suddenly a gust of wind blew into the room through the verandah, flinging the verandah door open and making the curtains flutter wildly. Outside, the moon was high up the sky and shining brightly under the city, illuminating anything its ray touches. Ron sat up almost immediately, shocked and surprised. ‘What the hell is going on?’ He thought. ‘It can’t be rainy right now, can it?’

            As he walked over to close the verandah door, a sudden invisible force pushed him onto the carpet floor right on the gut. Ron coughed and almost choked out of breath. It felt as if being hit by a bulldozer or something—the blow was way worse than being rammed by Shego’s kick or sucker punch. He tried to get up on his feet when the lights went out. The atmosphere became very cold and damp. Ron shivered. There was something in the room and he didn’t like the feeling it’s giving him. Now would be a very good time to have either Kim or Rufus by his side instead of being left alone like this. He almost regretted not joining the gang to watch the movie.

            “Who…Who’s there?” Ron asked, trying to be brave as he groped for the switch. “I…I know karate! You don’t wanna mess with Ronald Kennedy Stoppable here!”

            As if answering his question, a bright light shone in the middle of the room. Ron winced a little at the sudden light and shielded his eyes from it. Slowly, his eyes adjusted and he was shocked to see a silver-blonde man in what looked like a satin loincloth with chains wound around one arm standing before him with a flaming arrow in his other free hand. He had the greyest eyes he had ever seen and his facial expression was that of a cold statue. His skin was pale from head to toe and his ears were slightly pointed. His hair was utterly long, running down to his waist and he stood almost a head taller than Ron and when Ron tried to get a closer look, he noticed that there was a scar on his chest marked like an X right at the middle. He was more of a pretty boy, to be exact.

            “Who…Who are you?” Ron asked tentatively, his knees getting into the verge of buckling.

            “I am The Broken-Hearted,” the man replied, his voice echoing throughout the entire room. “I am here to collect hearts that are broken by any forms of love, and I believe that you, Ronald Kennedy Stoppable, are one of them.”

            “M…Me? Me?! I’m a broken hearted you need to collect? You gotta be kidding me!” Ron fought the urge to laugh out loud. “A man who goes around collecting people’s broken hearts? That’s gotta be the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard!”

            “I kid you not, young mortal. My duty is to come every Valentine’s Day Eve and Valentine’s Day to collect broken hearts in bulk,” the man made his point by showing him the chains that wound around his arms. Sure enough, a number of withered-looking hearts dangled between the chains. There could be about almost more than a hundred hearts pinned on the chains. Some of those hearts even have cracks on them and some have crumbled at one side. They have one thing in common though: they were all pinkish and going pale.

            “Gosh…I never knew there were so many broken hearted people in the world. I thought there were only a handful or so…” Ron muttered as he continued to marvel the hearts on the chain. “I guess…you really are a heart-broken collector.”

            The man’s flaming arrow changed into a long glowing scroll that ran all the way down towards Ron’s feet. Ron yelped and cringed away from it as the man read the scroll, saying, “I believe that you are under my list of broken hearted, if I am not mistaken. Ronald Kennedy Stoppable, Broken-Hearted Number 315.”

            “Why me? Do I look like someone broken hearted to you?”

            Without a word, the scroll changed back into the flaming arrow and the man used the tip of it to draw a shape of a heart on Ron’s chest. His chest glowed for about a couple of minutes before dimming down to a reasonable light. Soon Ron could hear the steady beat of his heart and saw that there were a few cracks on it here and there, its colour going pink. He stared in awe at it for almost half a minute before realizing what he was looking at. Quickly, he shielded it with his hands and glared at the man, his face blushing madly.

            “That doesn’t prove anything.”

            “Your love, or your crush to be exact, is Kimberly Anne Possible. Teenage heroine who is both a singer and a crime-fighter,” the man began to read something from a small black book (again, another transformation from the flaming arrow). “Been together since pre-kindergarten and have been together through thick and thin since then. Began to have a crush on her after returning from Camp Wannaweep. Heart being hurt about approximately 15 times, that’s the number of crushes Kimberly has throughout her lifetime, including Walter Nelson and Josh Mankey. A number of failed confession attempts which totaled to about…”

            “OK, OK! I get the point!” Ron yelled exasperatedly, flinging his arms in frustration. “I’m a love-sick loser! I get it! So…uh…are you really going to take away my heart?”

            “It is my duty as The Broken-Hearted.” The man nodded.

            “Does this mean I’m going to die?”

            “No, just a little bit cold and distant, and never to feel love again for the rest of your living life. Although some of the broken hearts I collected come from people who committed suicide.”

            “What exactly happen to those people whose hearts been taken away?”

            “They will live their lives as usual with no hassle and no pain. But they will be cold and distant as I’ve mentioned and be bitter about love, and will live and die as a bachelor or spinster. Their merits and demerits in life are totally different than love life. That’s another ‘management’ to decide, not me. I only handle love lives.”

            “But…But you can’t take my heart away! It’s all I’ve got! It’s all I’ve got that keeps me going, keeps me loving Kim! You can’t take it away now! I haven’t even…confessed to her yet…”

            “Yet you never tried to, after all the chances that you have. You’d rather bottle it up. Crushes like these are the lowest kind of love failure, I can tell you that.”

            “I just…I can’t…I mean, we’ve been friends since forever. What if she never treated me more like a friend? What if she rejects me? What if she gets freaked out about it and runs even further away from me? I can’t…I can’t face this…”

            “Fortunately,” the man said as his black book changed back to the flaming arrow, “you can be helped.”

            “I…I can…?” Ron echoed, lighting up.

            “Your heart has yet become entirely beyond repair, and I often give people like you a second chance. Heed my words, young mortal. At 12.30 tonight, you will be visited by two spirits, or say, more like my guiders-in-duty, and two more will follow at 1.30 a.m., and the last two at 2.30 a.m. They will show you the way. If you have not understood their messages by then, I assure you, young mortal, you _will_ become Broken-Hearted Number 315. Farewell, Ronald Kennedy Stoppable. Be sure to check the time.”

            With that, the man rapped Ron’s forehead with his flaming arrow, sending Ron into circles and surrounded by swirling mists. By the time Ron regained consciousness, which seemed like forever, he found himself on the bed, his body quite twisted in a way he never thought he could do, and was greeted by the ticking of the clock beside his bed and the fluttering sounds of the curtain from the verandah door. As he tried to get out of his position, he heard the distant sounds of chains and silent whispers of regret and remorse of love, and then saw the verandah door slowly closed by itself. Ron watched all these in silence and the awkwardness was so thick, you could cut it with a knife. The words of The Broken-Hearted still rang faintly in his mind.

            _Ronald Kennedy Stoppable, Broken-Hearted Number 315…_

            “Man, I really should quit dunking myself in soda,” Ron muttered, remembering the last drink he had for dinner. He quickly changed into his pyjamas and huddled in his soft, quilt-like blanket before falling into a deep sleep.


	2. The Ghost of Valentine's Day Past

            That night Ron had a fitful sleep. He somehow couldn’t get himself to forget The Broken-Hearted’s words. Him? A broken-hearted? Doomed to be one of the coldest, most distant people in the history of mankind? Him unable to love KP the way he used to? That’s a serious nightmare! He couldn’t let himself be that way! Never!

            Yet the doubt was still there. The fear of being rejected still lingered inside his heart. What if she didn’t accept his confession? What if she said the famous heartbreaking words “Let’s just be friends”? What if she doesn’t even understand or is totally oblivious to it? What would he do? Surely his broken heart would shatter even more to the point where only dust will remain to be collected by the Broken-Hearted.

            Suddenly the digital watch he put beside his bed beeped. Ron almost jumped. Why was his watch suddenly beeping? He didn’t remember setting the watch’s alarm. He stole a look at the watch and it was flashing, indicating that it was half past midnight. Again, The Broken-Hearted’s warning rang in his head.

            _“You will be visited by two spirits…”_

            Ron tentatively turned off the alarm and sat up slowly. He looked around at his dark room. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he could make out a number of features in his room. There was the landscape painting of Paris’s night life, the cable TV, the wardrobe where he kept his clothes and luggage, the door that led to the bathroom, the table and chair beside the cable TV facing a wall mirror, the windows and finally the door that lead to the verandah. So far, so good. There was nothing out of the ordinary. Ron stole another look at his watch. 00:35 a.m., it read. Again he waited. Still there was no sign of anything indicating the arrival of spirits. Ron heaved a sigh of relief and chuckled to himself, feeling rather stupid for thinking that everything he had experienced and saw was real.

            “I should’ve known this is all just a mad soda hallucination.”

            “I beg to differ, mortal. We are quite real actually.”

            Now Ron really jumped out of his skin. He was ready to arm himself in his fighting pose and yell his famous “I know karate” quote when he saw something very unusual. There were two little chibi-looking boys floating in the mid-air a couple of feet away from him. One had his raven-dark hair cut into an almost bald style with the remaining tied into a small ponytail. He had two reddish horns sticking out of his head and he had slightly protruding fangs, with blood-red bat-like wings to match. He looked very fair and very naughty—almost to the point of utter mischievousness—and had a loincloth fashioned out of tiger skin, with his pointed tail sticking out. His companion, on the other hand, was dark-skinned and was intelligent-looking. He had glasses on and had wavy blonde hair. He also wore a loincloth, only it was white and looked silky. He had a halo over his head and wings bigger than himself spread out wide. They looked like the classic angel and demon form, only smaller.

            The only thing that puzzled Ron was that their wrists were chained together. The little spirits noticed his look and the demon grinned.

            “Don’t mind us. It’s just that there’s been a little misunderstanding between us and we need to work on it. Ronald Kennedy Stoppable, right? The name’s Vilde, by the way. Sorry we’re late, our sweet _angel_ here is at it with his tantrums again. Never a day goes by without him complaining about _something_!”

            “I just don’t think that we should be doing this at all, this business, I mean!” the angel protested in a very thick English accent. “I’ve had it with your arrogance and your going everywhere dragging me along and seeing things we weren’t supposed to see! We’re spirits, not Peeping Toms, you know!”

            “Oh, for crying out loud!” the demon Vilde groaned, rolling his eyes. “For the last time, _it is our love job_! We agreed to this hook, line and sinker and we took the oath to serve it for life! How exactly are we supposed to get the job done if we don’t at least take a sneak peek at what those lovebirds are doing?!”

            “But this is so wrong! I simply cannot…” the angel’s ranting was cut short by Ron’s raised hand.

            “Err…Excuse me…Sorry for interrupting your argument but…what love exactly do you represent? You guys don’t seem like cupids to me.”

            “Well, we are one of the many spirits who represents the forbidden or taboo love,” Vilde grinned proudly. “But our job is pretty much specific: aiding the fags!”

            “Huh?” Ron wrinkled his nose in surprise.

            “We represent gay lovers,” the angel replied, looking very bemused. “One of the most religiously condemned yet publicly revered and accepted loves in society. We are supposed to keep this love in balance so as not to overflow too much throughout society, and help those lovers get through their love life without hassle, but I, for one, am not intoned with this…”

            “You are such a party pooper, sweetie!” Vilde grabbed the angel by the neck and rubbed his knuckles on his head. “He just doesn’t like having fun with those misunderstood people. Besides, he lost a bet and now stuck with me for life, and just to make sure he doesn’t run off, hence, the chain. His name is Gelan, if you must know.”

            “I suppose you guys are…” Ron began but was cut short by Vilde.

            “Of course! How could we forget what we’re here for! Yup, we are your guiders-in-duty, at your service!”

            “More accurately speaking, we are now Spirits of Valentine’s Day Past,” Gelan corrected.

            “ _Your_ Valentine’s Day Past, I might add,” Vilde cut in jovially.

            “My Valentine’s Day Past?” Ron muttered out loud. “I…err…But I don’t get it…How…?”

            “Touch my wing, mortal,” Gelan spread his wings closer to Ron’s face. “Touch it and we’ll take you there to show you some things.”

            Ron was hesitant. Should he trust these two spirits who didn’t seem to see each other eye to eye? Should he let himself be led to some unknown world by them only to fall into The Broken-Hearted’s trap, never to return? Could this all be just another dream? If it is, then it shouldn’t be too bad…

            “Come on, we haven’t got all day!” Vilde said impatiently, only to be smacked on the back of the head by Gelan. “OWW~!!! What the hell did you do that for?!”

            “Patience is virtue, dear Vilde. Can you not see Ronald is trying to gather himself?”

            “Yeah well, we got a roll here, don’t we? Tight schedule ahead with our clients.”

            “You just want to look at men slobbering each other silly.”

            Ron grinned. Their bickering somehow made him feel more relaxed. They reminded him of he and Kim when they occasionally get into rows or childish bickering. Finally he took a deep breath and reached over to touch Gelan’s wing. Both the spirits nodded and knocked chains with each other.

            Soon they disappeared into a blinding flash.

*

            “W…Where are we?”

            “Take a wild guess.”

            Ron stood before the fence that separated him and a very familiar-looking playground. The playground was filled with kids playing the see-saw, the swing, the slide and even the monkey bars, among all other things. Before that was a building that Ron could never forget, not even for the gold in the world.

            “You know this place?” Gelan asked, floating beside him while Vilde sat on his shoulder.

            “Know it?” Ron exclaimed. “I’ve been here before! This is where KP and I met! This is where it all began! This is Middleton Daycare Centre!”

            Suddenly a ball flew past him. To be more exact, the ball flew _through_ his body and past him into the neighbourhood across the street. Ron was dumbstruck. He stared in awe as he watched one of the babysitters ordering the kids to stay indoors while she gets the ball. She just went past him and didn’t even notice him. She just picked up the ball, walked past Ron again and continued playing with the kids.

            “Did it just…Did she just…What has just…?” Ron was at lost of words trying to describe what he just saw.

            “These are merely shadows of your past, Ronald.” Gelan replied. “They can neither see nor hear you.”

            “You’ve just become a spirit like us, pal. You can only watch but not touch.” Vilde has his way of trying to sugar-coat things.

            “Oh,” Ron replied, then turned back to watch the kids play ball. He soon caught sight of the toddler Kim standing on the balancing beam trying to walk across it without falling headlong onto the ground. She was as cute as he remembered her, with two pigtails and freckles just he had. She was wearing the blue dress with a blue stripe running across her chest, exactly the way they first met. He looked around and searched for his toddler self, and sure enough, there he was in his red T-shirt and navy-blue shorts, leaning on the monkey bars and throwing a ball in the air. It was obvious that his idea of a ball game wasn’t hanging with the babysitters and acting so excitedly over a ball that had seen better days than his.

            “You seem so alone over there, Ronald,” Gelan said as he looked sadly at toddler Ron playing catch with himself.

            “I’ve always been a little…different than the others,” Ron replied a little sadly. “I used to be unable to eat a lot of things because it causes me to have rashes. I wasn’t a very well kid back then. One wrong move and I could get the worse cold than anyone has ever got. No one really liked me in daycare. Sometimes the thought about me being such a burden to my parents may force them to not love me does cross my mind.”

            “Yeah, well, you were like a half version of a bubble boy,” Vilde replied sarcastically. “I wouldn’t love myself either.”

            “Vilde!” Gelan said warningly. The little demon just shrugged and give him an I’m-saying-the-facts look.

            Ron didn’t retaliate or anything. He continued to watch toddler Ron playing with his ball. He repeated his movements over and over again for a few moments until he accidentally threw the ball too far. It hit Kim, who was almost about to finish her balancing beam act, squarely on the forehead and tipped her off. As she feared, she fell headlong onto the ground. The babysitter in charge exclaimed in horror and ran towards toddler Kim, asking her profusely if she was alright. Ron wanted to go over and pick her up but realized that he wouldn’t able to help out with his body that could pass through walls and stuff. He had no choice but to stand there and watch.

            “You dweeb!” Toddler Kim exclaimed, rubbing her bruised head. “I almost reached the finish line!”

            “Ronald Kennedy Stoppable, you apologize right this minute, or it’s time out for you!” the babysitter scolded as she patted the dust off toddler Kim’s dress. Toddler Ron stared at the babysitter for a while, then at toddler Kim, then back again. Without a word, he went over, retrieved the ball and walked off without even a single sign of regret. The babysitter’s nose flared in anger and yelled after him, “Ronald Kennedy Stoppable! You come back here right _this minute_! _Ronald~!!!_ ”

            Before the babysitter got to get her hands on toddler Ron, he had already disappeared somewhere else. She muttered a curse under her breath before ushering all the kids back into the building. Ron glared at the babysitter in hatred. Gelan and Vilde turned to him.

            “Boy, you sure got guts to just walk off like that now, didn’t you, ol’ boy?” Vilde commented. “I can give you that.”

            “Something bothering you, Ronald?” Gelan asked, concerned.

            “I’ve always hated Mrs. Massey,” Ron said, his tone betraying his suppressed feelings. “She smoked pot in the children’s bathroom when she thinks no one’s looking, stole a kid’s snack or two whenever she wanted sweet stuff ‘coz she spent all her money on coke and pot and occasionally bullied and abused kids when they don’t listen to her and stuff, threatening them not to tell their parents on her. I was one of those kids who dared to stand up at her. None of us seemed to understand why the head of the daycare never found out about her. She was such a two-face.”

            “Hm, sounds like a bad-to-the-core mortal if I ever saw one. My kind of woman,” Vilde stroke his chin in interest, resulting to Gelan’s glare. He quickly changed the subject and said, “She’s dead now, isn’t she?”

            “Overdose,” Ron nodded. “They found her in the boys’ bathroom all pale and glazed and everything. Happened a couple of years after I left Middleton Daycare.”

            Soon Ron found himself standing at the back of the building. He recognized it as a small forest behind the daycare centre where only he dared to venture. Before he could ask what were they doing here, he saw toddler Ron sitting on a sandbox rolling the ball on the sand. There was dirt all over his shorts, his legs and his hands. Ron knelt down beside his toddler self, wanting to reach over and stroke his hair but knew it wouldn’t both of them either good.

            “You made this sandbox by yourself, didn’t you?” Gelan asked. Ron nodded. The sandbox wasn’t much—just a mound of sand being boxed together with four planks of upright wood—but he was proud of it. He really liked that sandbox. It was like his own world where no one would bother him or anything and he could be alone without any trouble from either Mrs. Massey or the kids. While Ron was engrossed watching silent toddler Ron play alone with his ball, someone was approaching. Ron looked up and saw that it was toddler Kim with gauze on her forehead. She looked rather sulky and bemused and had her arms crossed. Ron looked up timidly at her and remained quiet. Her jade-green eyes bore at his hazel-brown ones and for a long, long time, they never spoke. Finally toddler Kim broke the ice.

            “You could’ve at least said sorry. That fall really hurt, you know.”

            Toddler Ron stared at her innocently for a moment or two before looking away and muttered, “Sorry.”

            Slowly but steadily, toddler Kim squatted down and said, “I know you’ve been hanging around here. You’re always disappearing and stuff and one day, I just kinda stalked you down here. I hope you don’t mind.”

            “No, it’s OK.”

            “My name is Kimberly. Kimberly Anne Possible,” toddler Kim held out her hand to him. “You can call me Kim. What’s your name?”

            “…Ronald. Ronald Kennedy Stoppable,” toddler Ron took her hand and shook it. “Call me Ron.”

            “That is so sweet,” Vilde purred in a mocking cute voice. “And you guys actually met on Valentine’s Day! How wonderful!”

            Ron lit up. Valentine’s Day? It was today? It was on that fateful day they met? How could he have forgotten that? How could he have let himself hate the day they met?

            “She was the one who finally got you to be more open about yourself, didn’t she? Let you realize the Ronster in you, didn’t she?” Gelan asked, looking at Ron sideways. Ron shifted his slowly welled-up eyes away.

            “Yes…it was a beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

*

            Ron soon found himself inside the building of Middleton Daycare Centre. He saw all the little kids gathering around on their desks doing arts and crafts. The babysitters were teaching the little children about Valentine’s Day and how to make a Valentine’s Day card. Toddler Kim, Ron and 2 other kids were sitting in a group at another desk with their arts and crafts utensils ready. The whole room was filled with laughter and chattering of little kids and instructions from the grownups as they cut and paste their way into making the best Valentine’s Day card ever. After about half an hour or so, all the kids were excited with their finished masterpiece.

            That was when toddler Ron took his Valentine’s Day card and passed it to toddler Kim, saying, “Kim, will you be my Valentine?”

            “Eww~!! Look, Ms. Willie, Ronald’s got the cooties!” the 2 kids who sat at the same desk grimaced in disgust, followed by the rest of the kids. The babysitters chuckled heartily at toddler Ron and Kim’s antics. Vilde practically laughed his head while Gelan glared at his partner in distaste. Ron blushed. Did he actually say that?

            “Now, now, kids. It’s not a bad thing to ask someone to be their Valentine. That means you care for them.”

            “Will you be my Valentine, Kim?” toddler Ron asked again, holding the card he made at her. Kim stared at it for a while before taking it into her hands.

            “Sure I will, Ron. I’ll be your Valentine.”

            “And will you promise to be my bestest, best friend until we get married and live happily ever after?” This time, Vilde really laughed like a maniac and Gelan was thrown off guard. Ron couldn’t believe his ears. Did he really, really say that in front of all the grownups and kids in the daycare centre?

            “Yes, I will, Ron. I’ll be your bestest best friend.” Kim replied, as if it was the natural thing to do.

            “Man! You sure know how to please a lady now, don’t you, Ronster?” Vilde said breathlessly as he wiped the tears from his eyes.

            “It seems like you have already made a pact with Miss Possible before you even knew you had a crush on her,” Gelan sighed and shook his head. “Kids are just so full of surprises.”

            “Well, on with the next show!”

*

            “Now where are we?” Ron asked, his head a little woozy from the blinding light trip. He found himself sitting in what seemed like a seat on a school bus, with Vilde and Gelan sitting on either side of his shoulders. “Where’s this bus heading?”

            “Your most favourite place, Camp Wannaweep,” Vilde replied, grinning.

            “WHAT?!” The last thing he wanted to hear was that dreaded camp that bred nightmares from hell.

            “Don’t worry, Ronald,” Gelan calmed him, obviously tired of having to put up with Vilde’s prankster attitude. “This bus is going away from Camp Wannaweep. I think you know what you did after getting off that bus.”

            How could he forget? Days of eating food that could be infested with jungle parasite and only living off junk food he stored under the floor of Dorm 13 left him famished for Bueno Nachos. That was when he realized that he was actually sitting beside grade school Ron who was close to the window, his eyes looking longingly out to see if they were anywhere near civilization. He understood exactly how he felt. He knew he couldn’t help wanting to get out of Camp Wannaweep after Gill’s issue. Ron grinned as he continued looking at grade school Ron’s forlorn face as the bus brought them closer and closer towards Middleton Town.

            Soon, another flash went by and Ron found himself at Bueno Nachos beside grade school Ron munching hungrily on almost about 5 helpings of tacos and burritos, with soda and sundae to go. Once in a while he stole a look at his watch. Ron smiled. He remembered this scene.

            “You’re gonna meet someone, aren’t you?” Vilde asked cunningly.

            “Kim. We promised to meet here so that she could join me for food,” Ron nodded. “I’m even buying for her with all the money I’ve got in my pocket. Maybe enough for about 3 helpings.”

            “Wow! You remembered down to the last detail, Ronster my man. I’m impressed.”

            Just as he said it, grade school Kim came walking into Bueno Nachos in her green belly-button singlet and navy-blue Club Banana pants (the very first KP fashion statement). As expected, Ron saw grade school Ron stared at her in awe, as if he had never seen her in a hundred years and that she had changed from a little girl to a beautiful lady. Ron smiled. There she was. The exact way, the exact atmosphere, the exact feeling he had when she stepped into Bueno Nachos and right in front of him. She still had her hair tied into a ponytail and still had her braces, but there was something in her, something so feminine that he had not expect her to have, suddenly blooming out of her whole body. It was someone he had never expected to see from her. Not one bit.

            “Like my new clothes?” grade school Kim asked, showing off her clothes. “Got this from this place called Club Banana. Their designs really rock. Thought I could try a little teen look, you know? That grade school look was so last season. So, what do you think?”

            “Um…It’s…It’s great,” grade school Ron replied, almost stammering. “Looks real good on you, KP. I like it.”

            “Great! Then it must be the reason Walter Nelson came to me.”

            “W…Walter Nelson…?”

            “Yeah, you know, that new guy in Geometry class? He is such a hottie. And he at least had braces like me, which is so totally the thing for me. I was actually wearing this when I went shopping at Club Banana for a new sweatshirt and guess what? He actually came up to me yesterday before you called me to meet up and asked me to go to tomorrow’s Valentine Celebration Night down at Upperton. I really didn’t expect him to ask _me_ to go or anything…”

            Grade school Ron’s face had gone from awe to low. Ron’s heart ached seeing this history repeating in front of him. He moved away from his seat and out of the restaurant, hugging himself, his eyes shut tight, trying to block out the tears from falling and the pain from overflowing from his already aching heart. Gelan and Vilde followed behind him. Ron took one last look at grade school Kim and Ron chit-chatting with Ron forcing a smile or two after seeing Kim being so happy and elated, and began choking in his words.

            “Why are you showing me this? This is not what I want to see…”

            “Hey, man. It’s not like we _want_ that to happen. We’re just showing you the facts, that’s all,” Vilde had that It-ain’t-my-fault tone. Typical for a little demon. “Besides, you can’t blame us for you having a sudden crush on Miss Possible and hearing she had a crush on someone else at the same time!”

            “After all,” Gelan said, his tone for once backing up his partner, “what is your tiny crush for Miss Possible have to compare with her crush with Walter Nelson? She could’ve had this crush on him a long time ago and you’ve never even noticed.”

            “Anywho, like she said, he had braces just like hers. A match made in heaven. Don’t you think she deserved him?”

            “No, she doesn’t!” Ron blurted out. “That crush I had on that day surpasses any long time crushes she had on anyone else! I…I even made a pact with her in pre-K! You guys saw it too!”

            “A pact only a child could make and a child could forget through time,” Gelan noted.

            “Still, that day when I saw her, it was like my whole life had changed. Like my life has gone into a new chapter where the twist had finally worked itself into place and made it obvious. She wasn’t the KP I knew back then before I went to summer camp, the one who decided going online to advertise babysitting with a quote ‘I can do anything’ would do great for her pocket money savings. She was different. When I saw her that day, instantly I knew that she was the one for me. I knew it the moment I saw her!”

            “Yet that day when they locked braces, you still offered to help them by getting your mother to take them to the orthodontist to peel them off, then stayed behind to comfort her when Walter Nelson walked out of her out of embarrassment,” Gelan reminded.

            “Yeah, and you said ‘There are still other fishes in the sea out for you. Don’t despair’. You’re not gonna deny that you kinda let her pursue other guys instead of hinting that it was you who wanted to woo her now, are you?” Vilde gave Ron a look that Ron didn’t know what else to retaliate. Seeing he wasn’t talking, Vilde added, “You sure you’re not getting a little ahead of yourself, are you, Ronster?”

            “Come, we have another one scene to show you,” Gelan said as he spread out his wing for Ron. Ron shook his head in fear.

            “Please, no more. I don’t want to see anymore pain.”

            “Come on, kid. Another one won’t kill ya,” Vilde said as he dragged his partner’s wing so it touched Ron’s hand. Within seconds, he found himself standing outside the door of the janitor’s closet of Middleton High. Ron knew this scene too well. It was when Kim had dumped and accidentally locked Ron inside the closet when she was too engrossed hanging with Josh Mankey to notice. The janitor had just come to help get him out and was fumbling with the keys for the door. The first thing teen Ron did once he was out was to look for Kim. Ron could tell from his looks that he was ready to give Kim a telling off. He was ready to yell at Kim for the nerve she had to leave him stranded in the closet without caring about his life or death. He was ready to tell her that he had discovered Josh Mankey to be a player back in grade school and had broken a few hearts while he was in the middle of high school, and that he didn’t want her to hang out with that kind of person. And most importantly, he was ready to tell her how he felt for her, to confess to her.

            Ron followed himself all the way to the school entrance. The dance was over and most of the students have already left. Only a handful and the school workers remained to have a little snack of what’s leftover at the buffet table or just talk. Teen Ron managed to catch up with them halfway when all of a sudden he stopped. He was staring at the blissful happy face of high school Kim as she joked and chat with Josk Mankey who offered her to walk her home. Ron knew that look as he watched her too. The happy smile on her face, the gleeful way her voice rose and fell as she talked about her recent rescue attempt, and that sparkle in her eyes when she looked into Josh’s blue orbs…How could he even dare to just go up there and tell her off? It would just upright embarrass her and break her heart knowing that the guy she had been pining for was a player. What would it do to their friendship in the future? In the end, he let out a sigh in defeat and turned towards the direction of his home. Ron spun round and wanted to go after him but he felt like as if his feet were rooted to the ground.

            “Go after her, you idiot!” Ron exclaimed, calling after himself. “This is your chance! Go after her!”

            “Give it up, Ronster,” Vilde sighed apathetically. “He can’t hear you. He’s just as dumb as you are.”

            “You did not fulfill your plans. You’ve forfeited it again, just as you’ve forfeited your chance with the Nelson incident,” Gelan said, feeling rather sad for Ron’s situation. “You blew it, Ronald. You’ve failed.”

            “That’s not fair!” Ron turned sharply at them, tears beginning to well up in his hazel-brown eyes. “I wasn’t ready! I wasn’t ready to let her know. I didn’t dare to break her heart. I didn’t want to tell her the truth about Josh because I didn’t want her to get hurt. It was better for her to find out about it herself! I didn’t confess to her when she broke it off with Walter either because I didn’t want her to think that I was taking advantage of her vulnerability! I didn’t do anything because I cared for her! She would’ve done the same thing for me!!!”

            “But she’s not you, isn’t it? How would you know?” Vilde said with his arms crossed. Ron wanted to say something but was cut by the demon’s continuation. “Besides, it would’ve saved her the trouble just telling her now and heartbreak momentarily than letting her find out herself and suffer the longer impact.”

            “You know you could’ve done it. You know it was a necessary evil to capture her heart and prove yourself, don’t you, Ronald?”

            “I…I…” Ron didn’t know what to say. He knew they were right. He knew. And the truth hurt.

            “Guess that’s where the ‘Valentine’s are for mushy people’ came from, huh?”

            Ron gasped. A brief memory of the next day after that failed confession attempt, Kim had received a Valentine’s Day card from Josh slipped into her locker. Kim wanted to show Ron the card but receive a bitter reproach from Ron saying that Valentine’s are for mushy people. Lucky for him, Kim was too love-struck to notice. She only found out the truth about Josh 3 days after that Halloween incident (the incident where Kim lied for the first time and got herself grounded for a month). And again, he was there to comfort her.

            “Old habits die hard, baby,” Vilde said as he sat on Ron’s left shoulder. Gelan joined him on the right.

            “Humans tend to be unable to learn from their past mistakes and rather shut it out of their heads, repeating the same mistake again later.”

            “Shut up, shut up, _shut_ _up!!! Leave me alone~!!!_ ” Ron yelled as he thrashed his hands, trying to fling away the spirits off his shoulders.

            “You’ve always been alone anyway, mortal,” the spirits’ words slowly became fainter and fainter. “Alone…Alone…Alone… _Alone…Alone…_ ”

            Ron let out an exasperated yell and started running, tears flowing freely out of his eyes. He ran and ran and didn’t think he would stop. He just wanted to get away from all these painful Valentine memories that have been haunting him and stabbing his heart like a knife and those treacherous spirits’ voices. This is not real. It can’t be real. They were just playing with his mind, using his memories to make him feel bad about himself. He had to get away. He had to. He had to…

            Suddenly he tripped. Instead of the hard-rock floor as he expected, it was the soft bed of the room of the Paris hotel they stayed for the special shooting of the MTV for their new song. Ron looked around, his mind slightly disoriented, before remembering his journey through the past with Vilde and Gelan, the two Spirits of Valentine’s Day Past. He remembered clearly all the scenes and all the words the two spirits has said to him, and his heart ached just thinking about it.

            Burying his face on the pillow, he cried himself to sleep.


	3. The Ghost of Valentine's Day Present

            Ron woke up at the sound of his digital watch. He hastily rubbed the sleep in his eyes and glanced at it, showing the time 01:30 a.m. He was puzzled. He thought he had turned off the alarm and had left it alone the last time it beeped. He didn’t just suddenly get up just to reset it again, did he? Somehow, the feeling of familiarity came to him in a weird sort of sensation as he turned off the alarm. It was as if he was supposed to wait for someone. Someone to arrive and take him somewhere. He just couldn’t get what and who. Or more important why?

            Suddenly he heard something at a distance. It was the sound of clashing, like something hit across bare skin. Come to think of it, it almost sounded like a whip. That’s weird. Who would be making such a racket at the dead of the night? He then realized that the sound was actually coming from the bathroom. _His_ bathroom! And the lights were turned on too! Has his room been broken into? Was he in danger of being robbed? Attacked? Kidnapped? Who would it be this time? Dr. D? shego? Duff Killigan? Monkey Fist? Dr. Director’s fraternal twin brother Gemini (Is that his name)? Most of people knew that he’s an important song writer for Kim and if he were to be gone, it would be like amputating her leg. Armed with the table lamp he crept slowly and quietly towards the bathroom, ready to pounce on any perpetrator that comes changing at him.

            Just when he thought he had the bad guys cornered, but again he was taken by surprise. Before him floated two chibi-people facing each other. One was wearing a pair of leather body-fit pants with a leather plate strapped on his chest for a shirt, and had knee-high leather boots. He had shoulder-length hair and icy-cold green eyes and was carrying a long whip in his right hand. He had that smile that was evil and seductive at the same time, which actually stood out from the rest of his pale complexion. The other one only wore a red underwear—or almost like a G-string—and wore a pair of half-broken glasses. His hair was slightly long and unkempt and he had that ecstatic look on his face. He had a dark-red leash around his neck connected by a long chain held and wound around the hand of the chibi in black. Most shockingly, he had red markings everywhere from head to toe and some were even bleeding. It became clear to Ron that the one in black was torturing the one with glasses. He was shocked; what the heck are they doing?

            They didn’t seem to noticed, though, that Ron was standing there dumbfounded at what he was looking at. The chibi in black let out a sideways smile and raised the whip, bringing it down hard on his ‘captive’. The sound was sharp and loud, giving him the feeling of searing through his ear. Ron winced at every slash. He found it hard to believe that the one with glasses didn’t fight back as the whip came onto him over and over again. Why? What was he doing? Why didn’t he fight back? What’s the deal with him? Ron was about to go up and stop them when suddenly the chibi in glasses let out a loud groan. Ron stopped in his tracks. Was that actually groans of…pleasure?

            “Oh yes, baby, hit me some more,” the chibi in glasses moaned and outstretched his arms at the chibi in black. “Hit me, baby.”

            And so he did. He pulled at the leash, bringing him closer, gave him a peck on the forehead that he was actually looking at an SM live performance. He had to get their attention before this ‘live show’ creeps him out of his flesh.

            “Um…excuse me…err…I, uh, don’t suppose you’re who I think you are, aren’t you?”

            He finally got their attention. The two chibi-s turned and stared at Ron for a couple of seconds before moving up to him. The chibi in glasses drifted closer to the chibi in black, wrapped his arms around his waist and said in a seductive, quiet tone, “Honey, this must be that Ronald Kennedy Stoppable we’re assigned to.”

            The chibi in black didn’t reply. He wrapped the dangling whip around his hand and reach over with the handle to knock Ron’s forehead a couple of times. His blows weren’t light and Ron yelled out in pain. As he nursed his throbbing head, the chibi in glasses asked, “How does it feel, Kennedy?”

            “Feel?” Ron exclaimed. “Painful, that’s how it feels! Why in the damn hell did you do that for?!”

            “Does it not feel good?”

            “No! Hell not! That is so sick and wrong! What kind of love do you suppose to represent anyway?”

            “Oh, we don’t represent the love itself,” the chibi in glasses replied, smiling stupidly. “We represent one of the actions of love: through pain and pleasure. Many people show actions of love through gift-giving, kisses, praise, sex or just a pure bear hug. We are the extreme, that is through SM conduct. The name’s Pleasure by the way, and this is Pain, my wonderful Sex God.”

            “You sure you’re not one of those who represent gay love?” Ron wrinkled his nose in disgust. He may have nothing much against gays, but SM was way beyond tolerance limit.

            “Oh, those are only for Valentine demons and angels. We don’t qualify. But since actions of love don’t discriminate gender, this business is good enough for us.”

            “And I suppose you’re my guiders-in-duty for tonight, huh?”

            “Did you hear that, Pain?” Pleasure asked as he laid his head on Pain. “Isn’t he the smartest thing? Yes, we are the Spirits of Valentine’s Day Present.”

            “Your friend doesn’t talk much now, does he?” Ron eyed Pain suspiciously, resulting a cold glare from him.

            “That’s because before we got this job, he accidentally consumed a Valentine chocolate from the mortal world. For spirits like us, the ironic thing is though one of our jobs is to stimulate chocolate-giving, those mortal food kill us. Pain barely survived. He couldn’t talk ever since.”

            “Damn,” Ron muttered. Unfortunately it’s very hard to feel sorry for someone who looks at you like you’re a piece of stinky garbage that just won’t go away.

            “Come, Pain. Let us take Kennedy to see a few interesting thing.” Pleasure said as he traced his finger on Pain’s chin. Ron’s skin crawled again. Valentine spirits sure have weird attitudes and ways of life.

            Before he knew it, Pain raised the whip and brought it down hard onto his side and everything became dark.

*

            “Oow!!! What the hell was that for?!”

            Pleasure giggled. He kinda found Ron’s complaints rather funny. Pain didn’t say much. He held the whip close to his chest and gave Ron a challenging look, as if trying to tell him to back off or he’ll shoot. Ron glared back, looking very grudging indeed.

            “Just a whack to send you where we want to go,” Pleasure replied. “Anything else in mind, Kennedy?”

            “Why are you calling me by my middle name? The name’s Ron!”

            “I like your middle name,” Pleasure smiled seductively at him. Pain noticed and pulled at his leash, almost choking him. Pain grinned, “No offence, my sweet. I just like his name. I love you.”

            Ron cringed. This is seriously freaking him out as he watched Pain and Pleasure fondle and torture each other at the same time. He looked around and asked, “So, uh, what am I doing here at KP’s parents’ house?”

            “It’s up to you to think what you’re gonna see. We’re just gonna show you what’s happening right now. Pain, would you please?”

            Pain nodded and took out his whip. Ron almost thought that he was going to be beaten and braced himself, but instead, it was lassoed around his neck like a leash and Ron suddenly felt himself being dragged into the house. Ron was shocked. How did this spirit have such strength to pull him? He was probably 5 times heavier than he and Pleasure put together! But then again, he’s a spirit, so there’s no knowing the limit to how much he can carry. He just let Pain take him where he wanted to take him.

            Inside the house, Ron found himself standing in the living room watching Mr. and Mrs. Possible sitting in the dining room enjoying a nice cup of hot chocolate together. They seemed worn out and tired and just wanted to get by the day with the silent company of each other. As Mrs. Possible snuggled herself in her husband’s embrace, Mr. Possible broke the ice.

            “I wonder how our Kimmie-cub is doing right now in Paris.”

            “Probably doing another concert or MTV or something,” Mrs. Possible replied. “She’s getting really tight on her schedule though. She barely even survived college what with the tour and all. She’s lucky she passed with flying colours. Even Ron and Monique survived. I still can’t get over the fact that she’s actually a singer now. First she’s singing in a talent show, now she’s singing to the world.”

            “Yes, well, I hope that she’s on her toes and all ‘coz the entertainment world is not all about just singing and stuff. I heard the entertainment has a lot of strings pulled around and she could get into trouble if she’s not careful.”

            “Oh, honey, you are such a worried wart. You know our daughter is already a grownup and deserves to make her own decisions. Besides, she’s battled worse villains than she’s facing right now. I’m sure she can fend off a couple of hormone-charged male artists. She’s got Ron with her, you know.”

            “Ron?” Mr. Possible looked a little surprised for a moment, then realized something and said, “Yeah, Ron. I almost forgot about that little guy. I used to forget his name all the time when he was a kid, and he gets so worked up about it. I remember the time I pretended to not know his name and he almost ranted and raved the whole house down. Remember the time when he and Kimmie-cub did their first Halloween trick-or-treating? I almost thought he’d get into the dancing carrier with his pretty jumps and flips in his tutu.”

            “Yes, that kid’s got a bright future ahead of him,” Mrs. Possible agreed. “He and Kim are inseparable. Unless they had a little squabble or two between them, you’ll never see them away from each other. You could almost swear they were twins in their before life or something.”

            “Honey, that’s very un-scientific of you. You wouldn’t even believe anything other than scientific facts.”

            “Well, I believed in animology now, didn’t I? And admit it, so do you.”

            “That’s true. You a teal cat and I a beige fish. Perfect soulmates.”

            After finishing their drinks, they went upstairs to their bedroom. As they got ready to hit the hay, Mr. Possible, while getting ready to take a shower, asked with a doubtful face, “Do you sometimes believe that Ron is the perfect person to be with Kim? I mean, you remember the couple of blunders he made when they’re in a mission. It almost cost Kimmie-cub her life.”

            “Honestly, honey,” Mrs. Possible replied as she changed into her nightgown (which, by the way, surprised Ron because he hadn’t expect Mrs. Possible’s body to be that good-looking at her age), “I can assume that you still think Kimmie is ten-years-old. I trust Ron with my life. There’s no one I would let to help protect Kim from her kind of world. Ron’s street-smart enough to handle it than any crime-fighting business in the history.”

            “True, but I can’t see how I let you convince me to let Kim and Ron be engaged. It’s so…so…sixties ago.”

            Ron lit up. Engaged? He and Kim are engaged? What’s going on here?

            “Honey, we’ve discussed this before. Ron is the perfect guy. He’s her best friend and they’ve been together like forever,” Mrs. Possible went up to bed, grabbing a novel with her. “Even our future in-laws Mr. and Mrs. Stoppable agreed to this. Didn’t we plan to get them married somewhere on Valentine’s Day? That’s when they met, right?”

            “Yes, but…well…” Mr. Possible joined her on the bed. “It never occurred to me that Ron would be like the future son-in-law I expected.”

            “True, he may not be the cutest or most reliable person in the world, and he’s anything than a normal guy we’ve expect, but we’ve have a not-so-normal daughter anyway. And most of all, she trusts him. It would be hard on them to be suddenly separated and live their own lives, not after all these years together.”

            “As usual, honey, you make a very convincing argument. Who can ever counter that?”

            Ron stood there, rather dumbfounded at what he just heard as he watched the Possibles giving each other a goodnight kiss. He and Kim were engaged? Why did he not know of it? Why didn’t Kim tell him about it? They usually talk just about anything, why not this? Unless…unless Kim herself doesn’t know this. But why? Why the secrecy? Wouldn’t it be easier to just tell them than keeping it? It would’ve saved him so much trouble hiding his feelings for Kim for so many years!

            “You never told them that you’re in love with Anne anyway,” Pleasure said. “They wouldn’t find it necessary to tell you until you two were ready.”

            “Anne?” Ron didn’t get it. Pain pinched him, and Ron’s reaction was expected. As he rubbed his cheek, he quickly got the message. “Oh, you mean Kim, huh? Well…I didn’t have to tell them. I’m sure they’ve figured us out to let us be engaged now, haven’t they? I mean, how old were we when we got engaged?”

            “Somewhere before you two were officially 12 years old, I suppose.”

            “But then…”

            Before he could figure out more about this issue, Pain tugged on the whip that was still lassoed around his neck. He brought him to the twins Jim and Tim’s room. They were still up, surrounded by a number of mechanical gadgets, probably working on the latest experiment. The usual ‘Hicca bicca boo’ and ‘Hooshaa’ were communicated between them, like it was some kind of code between them.

            “You ever wonder what our sister and her friends are doing?” Jim asked.

            “I don’t wonder,” Tim rolled his eyes. “I _know_. They probably are making it big time at some cool country able to meet famous people and stuff. We’ll never hear the end of it, since her face pops up in every entertainment news and stuff.”

            “I still envy her though. I mean, she gets to meet all the cool people face to face and we only get to see them on TV. I bet Ron’s having a good time making friends with Pain King and Steel Toe as we speak.”

            “Yeah, good ol’ Ron. We had a lot of fun together, and he clicks with us way better than Kim. He rocks.”

            “I wish he was our big brother. We can have so much more fun together.”

            “Yeah. I know it sounds rather cootie-ish, but wouldn’t it be great if Kim gets to marry Ron and all? He’ll be like our brother-in-law and all and we can be cool with him all the time. Hicca bicca boo?”

            “Hooshaa!”

            Even the twins felt the same way about him. He never knew that he was liked and accepted so much in the Possible family. He had always taken their hospitality towards him as a way of making up for being Kim's sidekick, like almost paying a servant for his servitude. How bad he felt for not letting them know that he had fulfilled their hopes of being their future son-in-law just by telling them he had a crush on Kim.

            “Do Jim and Tim know about our engagement?”

            “No. Jim and Tim were not informed also, just in case they blurt their lungs out at Anne about it.”

            “I wonder what convinced my parents to allow me to marry KP…”

            As if answering his question, Pain brought down the whip on his side again, which transported them to his own house. Ron had no time to nurse his sore side; he was dragged with the lassoed whip again into the house. There he saw his parents in their room going through their closet. There were two huge boxes in front of them and when they opened them, there revealed the most beautiful pair of wedding clothes he had ever seen. Ron couldn’t believe his eyes. His parents wearing those clothes during their wedding? They had to be mega handsome and gorgeous to wear them.

            “Looks like we’ve been keeping these for a while now,” Mr. Stoppable said, inspecting his tux. “Do you think our son’s gonna look good on this? I was hoping to get a new one for him…”

            “Sweetheart, those clothes have very sentimental values,” Mrs. Stoppable said as she took out hers to see in front of the mirror. “I don’t see why it wouldn’t look good on either of them. It gives a touch of class in them, don’t you think?”

            “I guess you’re right, sweetie. Bridal clothes these days don’t come cheap.”

            “I hope the Possibles would find it OK. Mrs. Possible might still have her wedding dress with her or something and she might want to pass it to Kim.”

            “We’ll discuss about that issue another time with them. Better put it away before we ruin it.”

            “When exactly do you suppose we tell the kids anyway? Has the Possibles come to a decision yet?”

            “They said they’d tell them as soon as the kids finished college, but it seemed like the kids are too busy going around the world to even give us a call and say hi. I really think they’re meant for each other. I mean, it’s quite obvious why he hangs out with Kim all the time. She is a looker for her age.”

            “Indeed. I was wondering when our son’s going to notice her. If you hadn’t pointed out to me, I would’ve just broken out the secret there and then.”

            “Patience is virtue, sweetie. Time will tell when it will be right to tell the kids.”

            Ron felt a little peeved about all this. He didn’t know that his parents had already figured out his feelings for Kim behind him. Then he realized he didn’t need to tell him. He’s their son, and parents always have this innate sense of knowing what’s going on their kids’ head, not matter how vague it was. It was Kim he worried about. Since her parents never had a clue at how her feelings are for her, it probably convinced them that she was just a mere friend to him. The possibility of this being true hurt him.

            “Will…Will I ever be married to Kim if we were told about the truth?” Ron asked this tentative question.

            Pleasure remained silent for a while, then pointed at the dining room table and said, “I see a shadow on the seat where you and Anne share dinner with your family. If the shadow had not left after the next Valentine…then the marriage had never taken place.”

            “Oh no…this…this is bad…How can I…?”

            His words were cut short by another blow of the whip on his side.

*

            “That hurts, man! Don’t you have any other way of taking me to places?!”

            Ron was complaining while rubbing his side. He soon found himself standing outside a cinema called Le Cinema de la Cruz. There were quite a lot of people waiting outside and inside and some more lining up to get themselves tickets. It seemed that the majority of them were getting ready to watch the new movie Kim had mentioned before. And most of them were couples. Great, Ron thought. A real sight for sore eyes.

            “Sorry, Kennedy,” Pleasure grinned, his arms around Pain’s waist. “This is the best way to go. You’ll learn to love it. I know I did.”

            “No, thanks. It’s still sick and wrong. And why you keep calling me by my middle name?”

            “You sound better in your middle name. Makes you sound more…patriotic.”

            “What exactly are we doing here?” Ron asked as he looked around. He noticed most of the people gathering at one of the posters on the wall and he followed suite. The title of the movie they were looking at was in French, but there were English translations below it, and it read ‘The Life & Times of the Girl that Never Was’. Was this the movie Kim’s been talking about? Pain pinched his cheek sharply again.

            “Pain said this is where Anne and her friend are watching the movie she told you about,” Pleasure translated Pain’s painful infliction. A wonder he could able to translate all that in just one gesture.

            “I really hope you stop using our middle names. It’s really confusing, you know.”

            “Sorry, Kennedy. Can’t help it.”

            “Never mind,” Ron muttered in defeat as he rubbed his cheek. There’s no way he could talk him out of it.

            Pain then lassoed Ron’s neck and, with his mysterious strength, dragged him into Cinema No. 3. Ron soon found himself being led to a row of seats in the middle. There he saw Kim and Monique, with Rufus on the seat handle, sitting there sharing a barrel of popcorn and sipping their drinks. The entire cinema was full, so he sat on the stairs just beside Kim. Ron had declined to watch this movie before, yet he was here. Guess he just couldn’t escape fate. Though he had not watched the front part, he got the message of the movie—it was about a girl who fell in love and pursued the man of her dreams despite him being oblivious of her existence. Ron almost felt for her until the shocking ending turned out to be that she _was_ in fact non-existent; she was an imaginary friend created by that man when he was a kid and had forgotten all about her as soon as he had a new brother in the family. Luckily there were English subtitles, or he wouldn’t have understood the story. He really regretted not watching this movie together with Kim; he would’ve been able to share his shock and excitement with her.

            After the movie, Ron followed behind Kim and Monique as they leave the cinema. They chitchatted all the way to the nearest snack house. They ordered a helping of lasagna and a tall glass of apple cider each and tucked in. Ron stood beside them and listened to their conversation.

            “Man, that movie was the bomb, girl!” Monique said as she took a sip of cider. “And the food here is like heaven! This is gonna be added to the list of my most favourite countries.”

            “Yeah, that’ll total up to about 20 countries and counting,” Kim grinned. “Seriously, you’re gonna overload that PDA of yours if you continue to upload so much.”

            “Not with the PDA Wade designed. Way better than your standard PDA,” Monique replied, flashing the PDA in front of her.

            “Too bad Ron didn’t come join us for the movie. He would’ve liked it so much.”

            “Ron?” Monique half-exclaimed as she stuffed a forkful of lasagna in her mouth. “That boy wouldn’t even notice what you’re trying to do even if you do a striptease in front of him! Why would you even think that he’d even notice you’re hinting him or anything?”

            Ron was a little surprised. Hinting? What did she mean?

            “I know it’s ridiculous to talk about it,” Kim said as she blushed slightly. “But I gotta try. I mean, after all he _is_ my fiancé.”

            Ron almost fell over. Kim knew? She _knew_ about the engagement?! How?? Even Rufus, who was enjoying himself eating meatballs and garlic out of Kim and Monique’s plate seemed confused.

            “That’s what really puzzled me, girl. How on earth did you find out about this thing anyway? You did say your parents were trying to guard this secret with their life or something.”

            “Monique, I used to fight crimes and I used to read the minds of the criminals. It’s not hard to spot if your parents have kept a few skeletons in their closet. I noticed his parents and mine were having this really hush-hush conversation between each other and I had to figure out what they were planning. Sleuthing wasn’t easy back then, but I found the signed contract in my parents’ room that was kept in a coded titanium box under the bed. Code wasn’t so hard to break, and I was rather pissed when I read the contract. I mean how could they make this decision without discussing this to me first?”

            “I get you, girl. I’d be flushed if my parents engaged me secretly with anyone I didn’t know of.”

            “Uh-huh, uh-huh,” Rufus nodded in agreement.

            “I was ready to give my parents a telling off, mind you. I was having this major crush with a guy named Walter Nelson back then, and I was ready to tell Ron about this too. Perfect timing when he called me to meet him at Bueno Nachos after his summer camp, but then…well…something changed my mind.”

            “What did change your mind?” Monique asked, looking slyly at Kim.

            “Well, it was Ron. I mean…when I got there…I saw not the Ron I knew would be tagging along with me behind my back or the Ron who was silent, quiet and mysterious and all that, but the Ron who had came back from somewhere he never wanted to be and needed someone to reassure him that he was home. The Ron that needed protection, needed help, and at the same time provide me with the same help and protection in return. Of course I was in denial every single minute of the day and thought my feelings was just a phase…but…as I knew him longer and longer, the more I couldn’t bring myself to believe that it was a phase at all. Maybe my parents and his meant something when they decided to get us engaged. Maybe they saw something I didn’t until that fateful day. I guess that’s…how it feels when you’re in love with your best friend.”

            “So you and that Walter Nelson, and you with Josh Mankey, and _all_ the other guys you’ve been having a crush so far…that was all just an act, isn’t it, girl?” Monique asked, grinning from ear to ear. “Those were the _real_ phase, right? You and Ron are not a phase, huh?”

            “Yeah, I guess you can say that,” Kim grinned sheepishly. “Pretty lame, huh? I’ve been holding back this secret from him for so long and trained myself to believe that it wasn’t real until I guess it kinda showed up on my face, and I hate to say this, but Ron sure is a klutz not to notice all the hints I’ve been giving him.”

            “Say it to his face, girl! The only way to deal with those kind of blokes is to tell them right at his face!”

            “What if he never felt the same way about me as I do to him?”

            “At least you tried now, didn’t you? You guys are still gonna be friends.”

            “Friends!” Rufus put up a thumbs-up. Kim smiled weakly before changing the subject to the concert next day. Monique began blabbering excitedly about catching the 12.30 p.m. flight to Upperton Town and all that. The love conversation was over.

            Ron backed away in disbelief. Kim was actually having a crush on him! Her! All this while, she actually had a crush on him! He had always thought he was a one-sided love, but she was struggling just as much as him not to tell the truth about her feelings. How could he have not seen it? Those countless times she rescued him from certain death during crime-fighting, those sharp scolding she gave him every time he made a blunder, the time she forced him to get a haircut…those were _her_ hints of love. Those were _her_ way of saying that she, too, had a crush on him. How could he be so stupid? How could he have overlooked these clues? How could he…?

            That was when he realized that he was standing on a dark empty pedestrian road in a park. The fog was coming in and there was no one around except the streetlamp and he and the spirits. He noticed the spirits were sitting on the back of two ragged-looking puppies that have seen better days. The puppies both glared at Ron with a vengeance and looked scary enough to rid a million cats before them. He also noticed the wounds on Pleasure’s body were gone, and the chain of the leash was getting rusty and the whip less sharp as it was before. Their faces also looked a little ashen.

            “What happened to you guys?” Ron asked as he knelt down to get a look at the puppies. He dare not touch them though. “What are these puppies?”

            “We’re wearing off,” Pleasure replied. “That’s the consequence of being Spirits of the Present; our time is short around here. We’ll cease to exist if we don’t leave now. And for these puppies, they are called Jealousy and Envy. Extra assignment. If they’re not kept at bay, love would lose its significant meanings.”

            “What do you mean leave? Why isn’t there anyone to care for these puppies? There must be someone who…”

            “ _Valentine’s Day is for mushy people!_ ” Pleasure suddenly blurted out as he held his leash with one hand while holding Pain’s waist possessively with another. His facial expression had suddenly changed from his jolly, cute self to something dark and vengeful, like the puppies. Pain, on the other hand, changed too as he wrapped his free arm around Pleasure. His icy cold face broke into a sad look, like looking at someone who was gonna die and yet couldn’t do anything about it.

            “What…?”

            “ _What I give to just let this day go away or maybe just disappear in the face of the earth, then I don’t have to go through a day thinking that it will come and haunt me!_ ”

            Those words cut his heart like a knife. Pleasure was repeating his words and his opinions about Valentine’s Day. He felt so guilty. How could he have said that? Never mind the people who thought highly about this day, but what about the spirits who depended on this for a living? He wanted to explain himself but the fog grew thicker and thicker, hiding away both the spirits and the puppies.

            “Wait! Pain! Pleasure! I didn’t mean what I said! I never meant…”

            Too late. They were long gone. He was left all alone in the foggy park with no idea how to go back. He wandered around alone, trying to see if he could find some way to get back to the hotel when he saw a dark figure a few feet away from him. It was looming closer and closer to him and seemed to make its presence known by its cold aura that chilled Ron to the bone.

            When it stood right in front of him, Ron knew what was coming for him.


	4. The Ghost of Valentine's Day Yet to Come

            “Are you, uh, who I think you are?”

            He was greeted by silence. As expected, the dark figure he saw coming to him were two spirits floating side by side. For once, they were a real pair: a male and a female. They were of normal human height, but were hovering about 3 feet above ground, making them look taller. They didn’t have any feet, and half of their white-as-paper faces were covered under their hood, revealing only their mouths. They looked almost like the Dementors from Harry Potter, only that they have hair, and that the female was wearing dark blue while the male was in black. The male had long sideburns that ran down to his waist, while the female had her raven-black fringe sticking out of her hood, covering more of her face. There was a long thin red string tied on their pinkies, connecting them together.

            “I, uh, don’t suppose you could tell me what kind of love you represent, huh?”

            Still, they didn’t reply. Ron felt a little awkward. Was it their job not to speak? Or were they also survivors of eaten mortal food? He looked again at their tattered robes and their deathly looks and made another wild guess.

            “Are you guys, like, represent suffering love? Like Romeo and Juliet kind of love?”

            The spirits finally nodded slowly.

            “Including…dead lovers?”

            Another nod.

            “Then…can I call you guys The Dead Lovers?”

            No indication of reply. Ron took that as an OK sign.

            “I believe you’re my guiders-in-duty then. For, uh, Valentine’s Day Yet to Come?”

            The spirits nodded. Ron took a deep breath.

            “Then take me there. Take me where you want to show me.”

            The Dead Lovers held out the dangling string to Ron. Tentatively, he reached out and held it. He soon found himself back in Middleton Town, only that it was Middleton of the future. It had developed way beyond his wildest imagination and even darker than the one he saw when he and Kim traveled to the future ruled by Shego the Supreme One. It’s almost like an even darker version of Gotham City. The Dead Lovers led him to a long dark alley where he saw quite a lot of bums walking around or pushing trolleys collecting things they barely need. Well-to-do people ignored them totally and went by with their business without any second thoughts. Bueno Nachos was still standing, but seemed like it needed more customers than what it’s having right now.

            “Where are you taking me?” Ron asked, curious. “Look, I know you guys can’t speak or anything, but at least show me where we’re going.”

            They didn’t reply. They just continued leading him down the alley, passing through traffic, buildings, houses and people. When he thought their walk was going to continue forever, they’ve stopped abruptly. The female Lover pointed towards a house in front of them. Ron looked and noticed that it was Kim’s house. Nothing much has changed, only an extra floor was added and it looked a little old. As he walked in, he saw only the twins Jim and Tim in the house. They looked taller, bigger, older and more mature now—maybe 25 years old or less. They were clad in scientist robes and were busy with their tools. Only that they weren’t making new inventions like space rockets or whatsoever. They were actually making and upgrading weapons!

            “What…?” Ron was shocked. “What are they doing? Why aren’t they creating something outrageously scientific? The only thing they’d hurt is themselves. Why would they create things that hurt people?”

            The Dead Lovers didn’t reply. They pointed to a door that was under the stairs. Ron looked at them questioningly but they didn’t seem to want to tell him what they want him to see. Ron shrugged and walked towards the door. He passed through it and walked down the stairs leading to the basement. He almost gagged when the smell of rotten flesh shot up his nose. The basement was slightly illuminated by dim light, so he could only make out just enough. The floor was rather moldy and there were chains, ropes and all kinds of bulky tools all over the floor. There were more ropes dangling on the ceiling and, if he wasn’t mistaken, a number of kitchen knives were also tied to it, the sharp end dangling dangerously above his head. The walls looked like they’ve seen better days too. In short, everything you’d expect a future basement to be was in a total shamble.

            Suddenly he saw two figures at a distance. Instinctively, he backed away, afraid he might be seen. The realization of him being a spirit hit him when he felt the touch of The Dead Lovers’ hands on his shoulder. He nodded and walked over towards the two figures. One of them was a woman, standing tall and proud with a weird mask on her face, its empty sockets glaring maliciously at the other figure. The other figure—the man—was sitting on an old wooden chair chained from the chest down. He was blindfolded and seemed rather apprehensive about his surroundings. It was obvious that he had no idea where he was and what was he doing here.

            “Where…Where am I…? Who are you? What do you want from me?”

            The prisoner began to pour dozens of questions the woman refused to answer. There was something familiar about the woman, especially her body and her weird Predator-like outfit, that Ron couldn’t put his finger to it, but before he could find out, the woman already made her move. She raised her fist and brought it down hard on the prisoner’s face, breaking his nose. It was repeated again and again until his face was a mixture of red and blue and purple altogether. She broke a few of his teeth and made his forehead bleed, and still she continued to sucker-punch him. All the while, the prisoner kept yelling and struggling in agony, demanding to know what the woman want and why was she doing this to him, and all the while the woman tortured him in silence. Ron winced at every blow inflicted at his prisoner; it felt as if his own skull was cracking.

            Finally, after what seemed like forever, the woman stopped. She stood there staring at her blindfolded prisoner spitting and choking in his own blood. His face seemed almost like he needed a facial reconstruction. A few seconds later, she moved closer to the prisoner and removed his blindfold. Ron almost fell over when he saw that the blindfolded prisoner was actually Brick Flag, the high school quarterback! What was he doing here? What did he do? Why was he tortured like that? Did the woman have something against Brick? Ron’s stomach began to do flip-flops at this unseen reality.

            “Brick Flag?” the woman asked as she brandished something sharp and jagged-edged from the gadget on her wrist, almost like the Predator’s weapon. Her voice seemed like it was forced out of her throat than spoken normally. Brick shivered in fright and almost wet his pants as he stared in horror at the blades.

            “Why? What have I done? Why are you doing this to me?”

            His questions were never answered. Within seconds, the woman grabbed Brick’s hair and thrust the blades into his gut. It didn’t take long for Brick to breathe his last. Ron, who was holding back for so long, finally doubled over and puked. It was horrible. Not just sick and wrong as he would put it, but horrible. It was like watching The Chainsaw Massacre in front of your eyes in real life. After puking his guts out, he watched again in horror as the woman removed the chains and let Brick’s body fall freely towards the moldy floor. Brick’s blank eyes fixated at his made him puke again.

            “Why are you showing me this?” Ron exclaimed after pretty much puking everything there is inside his stomach. “Are you some kind of sadist or something? Who is this woman? What is she doing in Kim’s basement?”

            The Dead Lovers, as usual, remained silent. They pointed towards the woman’s direction, as if insisting him to keep watching. Ron reluctantly obliged. As he watched the woman clearing away the chains and the chair, she removed her mask to take a breather. Now Ron was in for a shock—the woman was no other than the auburn-haired Kim Possible he had loved! She looked a lot older now, maybe close to her 30’s, and looked almost as similar as her mother. She had her hair tied up to a ponytail and her jade-green eyes gleamed in a sort of way Ron had never seen before. So cold…so malicious…so vengeful. This wasn’t the Kim he knew. This wasn’t the Kim he had admired for her beauty, her smarts and her agility. This was the Kim who was a complete stranger to him, the Kim that had lost all her compassion and heart to the world and left them to rot while a new cold one came in. It was like she had changed so much within just one night.

            “Tell…Tell me…Tell me it’s not true, guys,” Ron shivered as he watched Kim stuffing Brick’s body into a synthetic bag and hung it at one corner of the basement together with the other bags he had missed. “Please tell me this is not my Kim…”

            The Dead Lovers only shoved him a little, signaling him to follow Kim up the stairs. With his body shaking and still recovering from the shock and his puking trauma, Ron followed her as he was told. He saw Jim and Tim greeting Kim warmly, and Kim walking quietly up to her room without a sound. Jim and Tim continued to do their thing while chitchatting like they used to as kids. At least that didn’t change.

            “I hope Brick didn’t suffer for too long,” Jim commented.

            “Knowing Kim, I bet she’s not gonna go too easy on him,” Tim rolled his eyes in defeat. “She was, after all, her good friend in high school. Who would’ve known that a quarterback like him would become the world’s dirtiest stock broker in the entire Middleton?”

            “Uh huh. I heard he caused quite a number of families to commit suicide when they lost their stocks to him or couldn’t compete with his stocking expertise. And when things don’t go his way, he’s got all the strings pulled to his favour. Shocking, isn’t it? I bet death isn’t gonna be unpredictable for him.”

            “She’s getting more and more sadistic, isn’t she?”

            “More like The Grim Reaper.”

            “She looks kinda good in that outfit, don’t you think?”

            “I didn’t think she would even buy it. We only introduced that oldie movie for her to cheer her up and suddenly she starts creating an entire female copy of it. That ‘AVP’ movie sure got her hooked and stuff. One look and she starts watching over and over again just to learn about their moves and stealth and everything and stare at their printout outfits from the net for days. Do you remember she asked for us to look for the 2 oldies Predator and Predator 2?”

            “Tell me about it. We spent almost a month on the streets trying to look for it and another week looking for it online. It’s so rare that it’s almost a limited edition or collector’s item. She didn’t make our job easy either.”

            Ron’s breath hitched as he saw the scars on the twins’ arms as they pulled up their sleeves to see them. Kim hitting her brothers? She may feel irritated at their overly genius and prankster attitudes but she would never hurt a hair out of them. Why the drastic change in attitude?

            “Well, we can’t blame her,” Tim sighed as he covered the scars. “She took most of the blow hard. If Mom and Dad hadn’t died, she would’ve been her old singing crime-fighter self again.”

            Ron was again shocked. Mr. and Mrs. Possible? Dead?

            “Yeah. Remember that concert she was doing in Alabama? We were there and she was singing so great…then that weird golfer came…what was his name again?”

            “Duff Killigan,” Tim reminded his twin. “He had to pop up suddenly to blow up the entire stadium and Kim almost couldn’t manage to save the audience.”

            “Almost. Mom and Dad told her to save us first, which she did, and died because of that. Kim tried to run back to them and shield them from the atomic golf ball, but she was 2 feet too far from them. The atom exposure cost her her voice—it ruptured her voice box and she couldn’t sing anymore. She can still talk but it gives her throat rashes every time she does. She kept blaming herself for Mom and Dad’s death and she couldn’t accept the fact that Duff Killigan managed to escape and avoid arrest. Remember her first kill after we showed her the AVP movie?”

            “Duff Killigan himself, who could forget? It was all in the news. Badly mutilated and shred to inhuman pieces and tied upside down by the ankles onto the ceiling of his own home, just like what a Predator would do. She’s an all out crime-fighter who looks for bad guys with bad reps to punish them for their deeds. She’s a full-time vigilante now. No one can stop her, not even Monique or Ron.”

            “Come to think of it, where did Monique and Ron go after that incident?” Jim asked, scratching his head. “After Duff Killigan, I was kinda still in shock and I wasn’t really paying much attention to my surroundings, that is until you suggested cheering all of us up with that movie. You’re pretty much the most stable of us all.”

            “As far as I can remember,” Tim said as he tapped his chin, recalling the moment, “Ron did come over to visit Kim for a few weeks while she was recovering from her exposure and another few weeks while she mourned at home after the funeral. Monique also visited occasionally. Since the incident, she moved on to managing other stars and was working her way to the top. I have to say she’s got talent.”

            “Yeah, but what about Ron? I was hoping he’d…well, you know…”

            “Yeah, I know, but didn’t really go well. Kim was a total devoid from the reality world and Ron wasn’t any help if he tried. She just couldn’t face the truth and she’s putting all the blame on herself while Ron tried to convince her that it wasn’t. Finally he just gave up and went on with his life trying to work at the Bueno Nachos industry. After Duff’s murder, he had his suspicions and he came asking about it with me. You weren’t there; you were in the science lab trying to clean up that mess you made with the gerbil,” Jim grinned stupidly upon hearing that, “and of course, I denied everything. He was still suspicious though, and I heard that he quit his job and volunteered himself to that Global Justice, that GJ Kim and Ron used to talk about back then.”

            “I thought that GJ stuff was all fake!” Jim exclaimed.

            “Not anymore,” Tim replied, shaking his head. “He’s now an active member of GJ and is up to his heels trying to track down Kim and bring her down, maybe try to rehabilitate her, but I guess she’s just too fast for her, huh?”

            “It feels a little weird though. A crime-fighter trying to arrest a crime-fighter. I still can’t help feeling that they would’ve been better together. Hicca bicca boo?”

            “Hoosha!”

            Ron went weak. He fell onto his knees and was shivering from head to toe. How could this have happened? He found it hard to believe that this was the Kim he knew since pre-K. She was the toughest, strongest and most optimistic person he knew, yet she broke down on this. She had experienced so many times of her parents being in the brink of death by the villains’ treachery and pulled through, yet she lost herself because of this. How could this have happened?

            Before he knew it, the red string from the spirits was wound around his wrist and he found himself standing in Kim’s room. She was in her usual bedclothes now and was lying on the bed staring at the ceiling. She let out a sigh and turned around to look at a photo frame where the picture of the Possible family was taken at Mount Rushmore. She stared and stared until tears began welling up in her eyes. She put it down gently and her eyes caught sight of another photo frame that was behind the first one. She picked it up and Ron saw that it was the picture of them in their 1st Halloween outfit: Kim the cowboy and Ron the ballerina. She stroked the picture for a while, let out a small smile, then suddenly widened her eyes in some sort of realization, narrowed them in contempt and flung it straight towards her table, smashing the glass of the frame into a million pieces. Ron almost jumped. Why did she throw away the picture? That was their first trick-or-treat memory together. Why did she do that? He turned to look at Kim for answers but was only replied with Kim burying her face onto the pillow with muffled sobs.

            “Why…? She’s been through so much death defying missions…and yet…was it that bad?”

            The Dead Lovers nodded. Ron suddenly felt so bad for her, a little bit guilty even. He wanted to reach over and hug her close to his chest, to comfort her, or maybe even just hold her hand or lay his hand on her back to make her feel better. But this was the future, and he was an observing spirit, so there was nothing he could do about it. He lowered down the hand he was ready to reach out and sighed.

            “Isn’t there anything I could do to change it?”

            The Dead Lovers remained silent. Again, they wound the string around his wrist and transported him into somewhere else. This time he was walking along the streets with people talking very excitedly and all that. Their speech was almost incoherent and too elaborated that he couldn’t make out what was going on, but it seemed like they were very happy about it. He got the idea of what were they talking about from the bits and pieces of their conversation that some evil person was already dead and they were glad that they can roam around the streets with an open heart and mind without worrying about becoming his or her next victim. He found himself standing at Kim’s house again, but this time it was completely deserted and had a sign with a sticker label saying “SOLD” over the “FOR SALE” words on it. It seemed like they have already moved out and someone had bought over the place. Ron was a little puzzled.

            “Why are we doing back here? How far back in the future have we gone?”

            The Dead Lovers pointed towards the south side of the direction. Ron followed to where they were pointing and soon realized that he was standing in the middle of a graveyard. Despite being the future, the graveyard looked very ‘80s with its tall spindly black gates and tombs everywhere randomly, some even with only wooden crosses. Weeds grew everywhere and fog was in the area, making it more eerie. Ron wanted to ask what were they doing here but The Dead Lovers continued to point south, so he had no choice to go where they want him to go.

            Soon they stopped at an unmarked tomb. Someone in a dark blue cloak with a hood (almost like what the female Lover was wearing) was half kneeling over it in silence. He ran his hand over the wooden cross and let out a silent sigh. Ron noticed that he had blonde hair judging by the fringe that was sticking out of the hood. After a long moment of silence, the hooded blonde stood up and dusted his knee before turning his back towards the tomb and left. Ron thought this guy was familiar until he caught sight of his freckles and eyes in the shadow of the hood—he was no other than his future self! Ron the adult! The Ron who was around the same age as Kim was! He wanted to get a better look at him but he had already left, passing through him and left the graveyard as silently as he came. Ron stood there in a daze until The Dead Lovers’ touch brought him back to the conscious world.

            “Was…Was that me? Why do I look so dark and all? Whose tomb was I visiting?”

            The Dead Lovers pointed at the unmarked tomb. There wasn’t much to tell about that grave. There was only a wooden cross for a tombstone with no markings or name of the deceased or anything that indicated the identity of the person who once lived. Then, without warning, the male Lover grabbed Ron’s hand and placed it onto the wooden cross. Ron let out an agonizing scream as a long and hard current ran through his arm and through his veins, like a heavy electric shock. The next thing that happened was way beyond what he had expected.

            A stream of images began to flash through his eyes. First he saw himself in the GJ uniform confronting Kim with her Predator outfit. They were almost getting ready to battle each other. She was also surrounded by a number of GJ members along with Dr. Director but adult Ron decided to take this matter on his own. He tried to persuade Kim to let them take her in without a fight but it was obvious that Kim wouldn’t consent to that. A huge hectic fight began and it was clear to the GJ members that they were no match to this sadistic blood-lust killer. Ron was ready to take her down—he knew her better than anyone else put together—when a dying GJ member decided to shoot Kim while she wasn’t looking. He had no idea that it was going to be a stray bullet and would kill Ron, but Kim knew. She suddenly got in the way, blocking the shot a split second before it could burst through Ron’s chest. It was a clean shot through and through before it landed into Ron’s shoulder. Ron yelled and as he nursed his throbbing shoulder, the reality struck him as he saw Kim lying on a pool of her own blood. The bullet had burst through her heart and she died instantly. There was no way she could survive that. Ron trembled as he cradled Kim in his arms. He kept shaking his head and muttered “No…No…No…Kim, wake up…” over and over again, rocking her to and fro. Even Dr. Director couldn’t bring him back to reality. Finally, with Kim still in his arms, he screamed in agony as his body began to fill with intense bright light. His hair suddenly grew longer and an aura began to build itself around him. It was like an inner power he never knew he had was forced out of him. What he didn’t know was that the trauma of Kim’s death had actually activated the Tai Sheng Pek Kuar that was deep inside him when he was chosen to be the Monkey Kung Fu Master. As soon as the powers were activated, Ron saw himself leaving GJ, draped himself in that cloak and began roaming around in the shadows of the night, continuing what Kim had left off and becoming GJ’s next target…

            Ron jerked his hands away and fell to the floor. He gasped for breath and tears were falling freely from his hazel-brown eyes, as if he had just been strangled. As soon as he regained composure, he touched the unmarked tomb; he finally knew who was resting six feet below him.

            “Tell me…This is not Kim’s tomb, right…? Tell me she’s alive…Tell me she’s alive and well, hiding as she continues upholding justice in her own sadistic way…”

            The Dead Lovers continued to stare at him without an answer. Ron couldn’t hold back the pain in his heart anymore. He let out a wail and hugged the wooden cross, calling out Kim’s name. He pounded his fists onto the earth and yelled, “Why all bad things must happen to Kim? She was the most wonderful and greatest crime-fighter of all time! Why must she suffer after all the good things she had done?? Why can’t it be me?! Why is it not that I’ve died?! Why must she die?! If I die, then it wouldn’t be so bad for her?! Why?! How could you allow her to die this way?!”

            Still no answer from the spirits. They were looking away now, holding each other close. Ron continued with his raving, “Is this the eternal punishment I have to endure if I don’t resolve my problems? Am I going to be like that hooded me, doomed to be a vigilante like Kim and punishing myself forever? Am I going to end up all alone, dark and cold and bitter for the rest of my life continuing a mission for the person I should’ve confessed to a long time ago? Tell me that all these are just something that might or could have been and will not be! Tell me that I can stop her from being who she is now! Tell me I can stop all this from happening! Please tell me I can change all this!

            “I will never talk bad about Valentine’s Day ever again! I will never view it as a curse, as a burden or even an irritating day! I will honour and keep it in my heart always! I won’t ever think that it is only for mushy people, or wish that it would go away or disappear! I will finish what I have never started! I will do what I was supposed to do back after Camp Wannaweep that summer! I promise I will change! I promise I will not let my heart be listed as a Broken-Hearted! Please tell me that this future can be changed, please!”

            The Dead Lovers didn’t seem to be interested in his ranting anymore. They were prepared to leave him alone there at this unmarked tomb with his sad thoughts and regrets. Ron tried to grab hold of them but instead of their robes or anything, he groped at thin air and soon found himself falling into an endless pit of darkness. He saw The Dead Lovers above him as he fell, staring at him behind the shadow of their hoods as they held each other close in their arms. He held out his hand to them but they made no attempt to catch it. They just hovered there, watching him fall. Ron continued to fall and fall until there was no end…


	5. The Revelation

            Ron let out a loud desperate scream and felt a huge blow onto his back. He opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was Rufus looking down at him worriedly. He sat up abruptly, throwing Rufus off-balance in the process, and looked around. As his mind slowly cleared he realized that he was back on the carpeted floor of his room in Belladonna Hotel. There was no fog, no wet soil, no spindly black gates, no tombstones and no wooden crosses. The unmarked wooden cross which was supposedly Kim’s grave wasn’t there. Nothing. Just the Paris landscape painting, the cable TV, the wardrobe, the bathroom door, the table and chair beside the cable TV facing the wall mirror, the windows and the verandah door. Everything was just where he had last left them.

            “I’m…I’m back…? I’m alive…?” Ron muttered to himself as he picked Rufus up absentmindedly. Somehow, he craved for the mirror. There was something inside him that told him he needed to confirm a certain matter. He let his legs lead him to the wall mirror and stopped directly in front of it. He didn’t look at his face though. His gaze was focused on his chest and he saw the part where his heart was supposed to be glowing dimly. Ignoring Rufus’ startled yelp, Ron stared even closer and saw that the cracks that were supposed to be about his heart were gone, and instead of going pink, it was glowing a bright blood-red. It was so new, so alive, so strong. It was as if his heart had never been broken before.

            “My heart…It’s cured. It’s not broken anymore,” Ron smiled as he fingered the slowly disappearing light on his chest. “I’m not a Broken-Hearted anymore! I’m cured! I’m free! Everything that had happened was real!”

            Ron grabbed the still confused Rufus and danced around with him in the room, laughing out loud as he continued his jolly rant, “I’m not a Broken-Hearted anymore! Yippee!! It was all real!! Those spirits did it all within one night! They’ve cured me! They’ve shown me the light! My heart won’t be taken away and I don’t have to live like a cold, non-emotional statue! Booyah!!”

            “Huh?” Rufus was still confused, a little irritated even. What has gotten into his master? What was he raving about? What was it that made him so happy? Was it a wonderful dream? If so, he didn’t need to fling and dance him around like a rag doll.

            “What day is it today?” Ron looked around, then put down Rufus and said, “Never mind, I’ll ask around myself.”

            He went over to the phone and dialed for the receptionist. A man’s voice with thick French accent answered his call.

            “Bonjour, reception?”

            “Uh, yes, this is the VIP suite, Room No. 1719. I was wondering what date is it today?”

            “Why, monsieur, eet iz ze most sacred day of ze year. Eet is Le Valentine.”

            “Booyah! I’m not too late yet,” Ron muttered to himself, then spoke again on the phone, “Right, send one of your best man up to my room right this minute. There’s an errand I want him to run.”

            “Oui, oui, monsieur. Ve vill zend our trusted bellboy to you. Expect him to be zere at 5 minutes.”

            “Merci boccu,” Ron grinned and hung up. As promised, a bellboy came knocking. He took out his wallet and answered the door. Before the young bellboy could greet him, Ron pulled him inside, scaring the daylights out of him.

            “Take whatever you want, monsieur. Pleez don’t hurt me!” the bellboy pleaded in fright.

            “Sorry, kid,” Ron grinned. “I don’t want anyone to see us out there. Do you know anywhere that sells the best roses and chocolate candies?”

            “Do I? oui, monsieur! We have juz ze store right across ze street. Zer roses are very fresh—I know ze owner, she has zis rose garden and she peeks zem everyday—and she makes ze most magnifique chocolates in ze world! Muah! Excellente!” the bellboy imitated the way a chef complements a cuisine well done.

            “Yeah, well, here’s about…” Ron opened his wallet and took out a few batches of francs he changed 2 days ago, “1,500 francs. I want you to go to that store you just said and get me 5 bouquets of roses—a hundred in each bouquet—and 5 of the biggest box of Valentine’s Day chocolates you can find. Keep whatever change you get as your tip. And,” he took another franc bill, “here’s another 50 francs for you if you can get them all delivered to Miss Kimberly Anne Possible in VIP suite Room 1720 within 10 minutes. Don’t tell her you did this for me. Say it’s from an unnamed guy.”

            The bellboy stared at all the cash he was holding in his hand, looked rather confused and shocked at what he was told to do and his reward for doing it. Ron eyed the unmoving bellboy a little impatiently before shoving another 50 francs into the bellboy’s pocket, saying, “Uh, hello? Roses? Chocolates? Kimberly Anne Possible? Room 1720? 10 minutes, stats?”

            The extra 50 francs knocked him out of his senses and almost immediately, with a flustered face, he saluted and said, “Oui, monsieur! I’ll have eet done wizin 5 minutes!”

            Ron chuckled to himself as he watched the bellboy practically flew out of the room and into the streets. He changed into his T-shirt and slacks and realized that his pet Rufus has been watching all this happening in awe and wonder, almost to the point of disbelief. He smiled and pocketed Rufus, saying, “This is the new Ronster you’re looking at, my hairless friend. From now on, no more Mr. Chicken Guy. I’m gonna do what I’ve should’ve done years ago. Just you wait and see.”

            “Wohoo!” Rufus cheered as he got the message. He gave his master an “Ugh! Finally!” look and excitedly waited and watched for the extreme surprise.

*

            “Would you believe it, girl? 5 bouquets of roses and 5 boxes of Valentine’s chocolates, all addressed to you by a nameless guy! You definitely got a secret admirer here, girl!”

            “Quit it, Monique. I’m still in shock here.”

            It was the weirdest morning call she had ever got. She had the most startling surprise in her life when she saw the bellboy standing before her with 6 heart-shaped boxes stacked on top of each other in his hands. 3 more bellboys followed with 2 bouquets of roses (the third had one) in their hands. Even Monique was shocked out of her sleep seeing them marching in with the gifts. When she questioned the bellboy, he only told them they’re from a nameless gentleman. Kim was sitting on the chair still in shock.

            “I mean, who in the world would produce so much stuff at once! Can’t be the fans! There’s no card or anything! The security made it clear that no fans, paparazzi, reporters, journalists or whoever are allowed to come here! I just don’t get it, girl!”

            Just then, there was a knocking on the door. Monique immediately jumped and answered it, expecting another batch of Valentine’s gifts from the bellboy or the nameless guy himself, but was greeted by Ron’s smile instead.

            “Oh, it’s just you,” Monique muttered disappointedly and let him in.

            “Good morning to you too, Monique,” Ron replied with a small frown, then widened his eyes in pretend surprise, “Woah! Now what exactly have I just missed here?”

            “Isn’t it romantic?” Monique exclaimed as she put her hands on Kim’s shoulders. “A secret admirer just gave these roses and chocolates to Kim! We suspect it could be one of the guest in this very hotel!”

            “Really? All these for you from a guy?” Ron asked as he turned to look at Kim innocently. “Cool! I didn’t know you were such a magnet, KP. But then, you’re a singer, so it’s rather expected.”

            “Yeah, I guess…If you put it that way…” Kim replied halfheartedly. Ron noticed a slight trace of disappointment on her face. He had half-expected that. But this wasn’t the right time to do it. Not now. But he sure knew what could make her feel happy. He grabbed a box and took a handful of chocolates, much to Monique’s annoyance and Kim’s surprise.

            “Hey, Ron! What in the hell do you think you’re doing taking Kim’s Valentine’s chocolates? Those are for her, not for you!”

            “Nothing, just trying to inspect and see if it’s poisoned or anything. You know sometimes those mystery gifts come with a catch, like on TV when those people thought they’re getting a gift but it was actually some time bomb or something like that,” Ron replied nonchalantly and started popping them one by one into his mouth, chomping them hungrily, “Hmm, this one tastes OK, caramel-filling, very sweet…Hmm, tastes suspiciously nougat…I need to get back to that…”

            Monique continued to stare in horror as he popped more and more chocolate into his mouth and was adamant that he could not take the other boxes to sample them, ranting and raving at him as she took all the boxes away from him. Kim watched all this in amusement and let out a giggle as Ron and Rufus continued to eat chocolates that were still in Ron’s hands. Both were full and didn’t seem like they can hold anymore. Ron held another one between his teeth, turned to face Kim and said in a muffled voice, “Yo, Kim, I think this is safe. You wanna try?”

            That was when Kim widened her eyes and for the first time, blushed a healthy pink. Why would he suddenly offer her a chocolate through his mouth? This is new. Why the sudden gesture from him? What does this mean? What is he trying to do? Kim was hesitant to make a move.

            “Come on, KP. My mouth is tired and my hands are full. Take it and try it. It’s really good.”

            Kim’s heart began to pound. She didn’t know what to do. Should she risk going over and take the chocolate through his mouth? What if something should happen? Probably the unthinkable would occur…like…a first kiss perhaps? She eyed Monique warily and received a sideways glance towards Ron from her. In the end, she dare not risk it. She reached out her hand and took the chocolate from his mouth with her fingers. Ron almost expected her to take it with her mouth, but it was just wishful thinking. No way would she do embarrassing things like that in front of someone else, even when her best friend Ron was there. Ron knew Kim too well to expect her to do something like that. He just smiled as Kim popped the chocolate into her mouth.

            “See? It’s really nice, isn’t it?” Ron asked.

            “Hmm, almond,” Kim said as she chewed her chocolate. “Not my favourite. But it tastes good nonetheless.”

            Just then, Monique’s PDA rang. Monique went to check it out and saw her reminder of today’s flight for the concert blinking. Almost immediately she jumped and ushered Ron out of the room, yelling, “Hurry up! Go back to your room and get packed! You too, Kim! We got an Upperton Town flight to catch and we gotta be at the airport 2 hours beforehand! Hurry!”

*

            Kim, Monique and Ron were safe and sound in the airplane with the rest of the crew. They made it in time 2 hours before the flight and were all relaxed in their seats, chattering about the upcoming concert and their preparations. Some were talking about the lightings, some were talking about the instruments, others were blabbering elaborately about what the props and structures of the concert theatre might be since they last did their world tour there and Monique and the wardrobe crew were arguing hotly about what Kim should wear for the concert—navy-blue or fresh pink-red. Some were even arguing about whether they should just buy a private jet plane to save the trouble of having to rush to the airport 2 hours in advance all the time.

            Kim let out a tired sigh and shook her head helplessly as she looked away from the bickering Monique and wardrobe crew. She turned to Ron and noticed that he was sitting there staring at his notebook. She craned over to see what he was reading but Ron noticed her first. Almost immediately, he hid the book from her.

            “What’s that you’re reading?” Kim asked curiously.

            “Oh, nothing. It’s just the new song I’ve been talking about,” Ron replied a little nervously. Kim grew even more curious, suspicious even.

            “Come on. What’s so secret that you have to hide it?”

            “Well…you see…it’s just that…”

            Ron didn’t get to finish his words. Their plane suddenly gave a huge jerk, shocking everyone on board. Kim and Ron quickly stared out of the window and saw a metallic-blue aircraft the size of a Boeing plane and the shape of an UFO. The driver of the aircraft was no other than Dr. Drakken and his loyal henchwoman Shego!

            Kim’s Kimmunicator beeped. Kim answered it, but before she could say “What’s the sitch?” Wade has already begun exclaiming, “Kim, look out! Dr. Drakken had just stolen the latest hush-hush technology created by NASA and he’s heading your way!”

            “Too late for warning, Wade,” Kim said as she turned the Kimmunicator to face the window. “He’s already here.”

            Dr. Drakken drove the aircraft closer to their plane and crashed them, sending a lot of people falling headlong towards the floor. He crashed about three or four times, laughing menacingly, before Shego jumped off the aircraft and onto the airplane wing. She activated her killer glowing hands and slashed at the window, breaking it to pieces. Almost immediately, the pressure began to pull at everything inside the plane. Everyone screamed and panicked as they hung on for dear life not to be sucked out of the plane into the horizon. Shego made the opening bigger and began attacking the Dynamic Duo. As they fought, the rest of the crew started looking for parachutes to leave the plane safely.

            “So good to see you, princess,” Shego said as she aimed a punch at Kim, which missed. “We were just in the neighbourhood. Thought we might drop by for a visit and to wish you good luck on your concert.”

            “You know it’s bad luck to actually wish good luck on a concert,” Kim said as she kicked at Shego.

            “Which is why I said it.”

            “Actually, the term ‘break a leg’ applies,” Ron said as he tried to help Kim with the fight. Shego grinned and aimed a kick into Ron’s gut.

            “Thanks for suggesting. That’s exactly what I’m gonna do to you!”

            As they continued to fight, the pressure began to tear the plane apart. Everyone had safely jumped out of the plane through the opening with their parachutes, leaving none for the Dynamic Duo. They continued to fight with Shego as they fell freely towards the ground 3,000 feet below. A sky-diving style of butt-kicking and face-punching ensured. They were closing in to 1,500 feet now. Shego, with all the strength she could muster, gave a sucker-punch at Kim, knocking her unconscious before Dr. Drakken steered the aircraft towards his henchwoman and picked her up.

            “So long, princess! Too bad you and your sidekick won’t live to attend our wedding!”

            “They’re getting married??” Ron exclaimed as he fastened the button in his slack to keep the terrified Rufus from falling out of his pocket. He had no time to contemplate when these unlikely two ended up together. He saw Kim continued falling and falling right before his eyes. His heart skipped a beat. No! He can’t let her fall! He can’t let her die! He can’t lose her again! Straightening himself, he dove for her and hugged her, maneuvering himself so that he was facing the ground. He didn’t care that he was soon going to feel the impact of the ground, breaking his bones into a million pieces. He didn’t care that he was gonna go through instant death. All he cared about was keeping Kim alive. He brought her closer and tighter to his chest, not realizing that he was blocking a lot of air from his lungs. As the air pressure build around him and he losing breath and consciousness, the only thing that continued to linger in his mind that he was never letting go…

*

            “Wait, wait! Give him room! He’s coming to!”

            Ron opened his eyes slowly. The first thing that greeted him was Monique and a few doctors looking down at him. His arms felt empty, like hugging at thin air. He tried to remember what had happened. The gang on their way to Upperton, then Dr. D and Shego’s attack, then falling from the plane, then him hugging Kim close…

            “What? Where? Who? Where’s Kim? Where am I? Where’s Kim??” Ron sat up and blabbering panickly, looking around to see where he was and where was his secret sweetheart.

            “Careful, baby boy. You had a shock and near brain damage just now,” Monique laid him back down onto the bed he was lying on. “You’re at Upperton Medic Home now. Kim’s at the next room. A little dehydrated and shocked, but fine.”

            “What…What happened? How did we get to Upperton? I thought the plane…”

            “We almost thought we’re a goner too, but because of that demented green girl trashed the plane, she kinda activated the distress signal built inside. We were lucky to be spotted by the airplane rescue team and they brought us into their plane one by one, thanks to their expertise and our parachutes. A couple of sky-divers just zoomed down and grabbed you guys just in the nick of time before parachuting down to the ground below. Then I briefed Wade about the matter and he called in the medics to take us all to this medic home.

            “That blue mad scientist and his green girl on the other hand have just been apprehended, thanks to Wade’s quick thinking and way cool technology. Turned out that Dr. D and Shego had been dating for a while and were planning to get married in Broadway while creating chaos at the same time. Some sort of a pre-newly wed excitement before their grand union or something. Guess they’ll have to have their honeymoon behind bars! We almost lost you, you know. You ran out of oxygen because of the air pressure and your brain was going down from ho to low, man. Kim survived without a scratch, thanks to you.”

            Ron sighed in relief, then fingered his pocket and asked, “Rufus…Where’s Rufus? Is he OK too?”

            “He’s fine,” Monique said as she took a sleeping Rufus from her pocket and placed him on Ron’s chest. “He’s been injected with a mild doze of anesthetic just to calm him down. He’ll up and about in no time.”

            “Can…Can I go see Kim? The concert isn’t canceled now, is it?”

            “Kim wouldn’t hear of it, no matter how we try to talk her out of it. She said something about not letting down the fans after so much preparation and all and ordered the crew to set up the props as planned. You might as well try talking her out of it while you’re at it.”

            Ron pocketed Rufus walked over to Kim’s room to confirm for himself that she was alright. He soon saw Kim busy talking to Wade on the Kimmunicator asking him favours to continue helping out with the setups of tonight’s concert. It was best not to bother her when she’s busy. He knew her too well to try and butt in her business and try talking her out of things that she’s made her mind up of. He just stood there watching her without alerting her of her presence. She looked even more beautiful than he ever imagined her to be. She was his best friend, his comrade, his companion, his everything. His Kim. Nothing in the world could take her place.

            “Tonight, Kim. Tonight will be the night.”

*

            The crowd went wild as Kim made her debut appearance. She was dressed in a wonderful Victorian dress the colour of the dimming sunset and the tiny sparkles embedded on her skirts illuminated her even more, shining and glimmering as she walked. The intensity of those sparkles and her aura increased as spotlights were shone on her and the flashes of cameras from fans and reporters hit her. She greeted everyone and, after giving her music crew the cue, she began singing all the familiar tracks that were in her ‘Lost in Loveville’ Valentine’s Day album. Crazed fans were either cheering on or singing along with her. Songs like ‘Lovin’ You, Beggin’ You’, ‘Won’t You Save This Aching Heart of Mine?’, ‘Is It So Hard to be By Your Side?’, ‘Listen’, ‘You’re All I’m Living For’, and more echoed throughout the entire theatre, including everyone’s favourite song ‘Say the Word’ which was featured as a bonus track in the album.

            Suddenly all the lights went out and fireworks began to flare. The fans went wild, thinking it was all part of the act. Kim looked around, puzzled. She glanced at the music crew and they, too, shrugged, not sure what was going on. ‘This isn’t in the schedule,’ Kim thought. ‘What’s going on here?’

            “Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please?”

            “Ron?” Kim was surprised to hear Ron’s voice echoing throughout the theatre. What was he doing here? Wasn’t he supposed to be with the crew, checking out the instruments’ conditions or helping Monique out to sort her wardrobe for her act? What’s going on?

            “This is the famous Ronald Kennedy Stoppable. I think you guys all know me: I’m Kim’s song writer,” Ron’s voice continued to echo for everyone to hear. Monique ran out to see what was going on and received a shrug from Kim. “I know this is a little bit of a last minute notice, but I have a surprise for the person I love. There is this song I wrote back in grade school. It’s called ‘Together Forever’ and it’s about how I discovered how much she really meant to me and how blind I was to not notice that till then. If you’re listening, my love, this is for you. Rufus, Wade, hit it.”

            There was a clicking sound, then a spotlight shining on Ron. Ron was wearing a Victorian tux to match Kim’s outfit and held a mike in his hand. The music played and Ron began to sing:

 

_I used to think that we were just friends_

_I used to think that friendships are meant to end_

_But then one look into your beautiful eyes_

_Whatever I used to think were soon thrown out into the abyss_

_Never mind the games we’ve played, the things we did_

_Or the words we’ve said_

_All I need to know now is if_

_We could be together forever_

_Chorus:_

_Together forever_

_That’s all I ask for_

_Together forever_

_There’s nothing else I want more_

_If I have to cross the Fire of Hell or the Gates of Heaven_

_I’ll do it, yes, I will_

_Together forever_

_That’s the only thing I need_

_They say that friends can never be lovers_

_They say that these kind of relationships never last very long_

_But when I look deep into your wonderful eyes_

_Whatever they all say are just leaves blown by the wind_

_Never mind the lies, deceptions and doubts_

_All I need to know now is_

_Can we prove our love exists?_

_Chorus_

_Bridge: I never felt so afraid_

_To tell you how I feel_

_But your eyes soon told me_

_I gotta try_

_I really gotta try_

_Chorus_

            A long silence followed after Ron finished his song. Ron then walked over towards Kim and said, “I wrote that song after coming back from Camp Wannaweep. I know I’ve been acting very bitter in front of you every time Valentine’s Day arrives, and I know I should’ve told you the truth before, but…well, I guess I was just too chicken shit to be a man about it. Something happened to me last night that changed all that. I cannot fully explain what it was, but I can say this—it taught me a hard lesson that I should never put off something as important as this or I’ll live to regret it for the rest of my life.

            “Kim, I love you. I loved you since the day I came back from Camp Wannaweep. There are no words to describe my feelings of what I saw when you walked into Bueno Nachos. I loved you even when you were crushing with Walter Nelson and Josh Mankey and I continued to love you despite all the other crushes you had throughout your life. It broke my heart every time to see you going out with a new guy and even more when you come crying to me with a crush gone. I had every chance to stop you from going out with them and to tell you the truth about my feelings but I didn’t dare to jeopardize our friendship. You’ve always seen me as a friend and I didn’t want to lose you as a friend. I couldn’t bear the thought of you not by my side ever again.

            “Kim, I can stand here all day telling you about my feelings, but they can never measure up to the extent of my true feelings, so, Kim, I just want to ask,” Ron knelt down in front of Kim and fished out a box. He opened it and the spotlight revealed it to be a brilliant shining ring, probably more than 20-karat in value. Ron continued, saying, “Kim, will you be my bestest best friend till we get married and live happily ever after?”

            The entire audience gasped and cameras from reporters began flashing again. Kim stood there in awe as she stared at Ron’s half-innocent-half-serious hazel-brown eyes, almost speechless. After what seemed like forever (Monique and the audience’s ushers and urges included), Kim finally broke the ice.

            “You…You still remember that pre-K vow…?”

            “Trying to bring back memories here,” Ron grinned his usual dorky grin.

            “So…those roses…and those chocolates…you gave them to me, didn’t you?”

            Ron nodded. No words need to be said about that.

            “To…To tell you the truth…I also fell for you on that day in Bueno Nachos…There’s just not enough words to express how I feel for you that day…I guess we both are too chicken shit to face the fact.”

            Ron didn’t reply. He just continued smiling.

            “I…uh, I also want to tell you that…uh…our parents…”

            “It’s OK, KP. I figured that out also.” One white lie like that wouldn’t hurt. “But I’m not asking you because of our parents’ plan. I’m asking you right now with my own free will. Would you…?”

            “Yes…Yes! Yes! I will marry you!” Kim exclaimed as she flung herself into Ron’s arms. The audience first let out an “Aww~!!” sigh, then cheered and clapped as Kim and Ron locked lips, sharing a long and passionate deep kiss. Needless to say that it was all in the news on TV and on paper about Ron’s surprise proposal and Kim’s confession. The talk about this event went on for weeks and 3 months later, Kim and Ron were officially married in Middleton Chapel in front of thousands of fans, guests, reporters, paparazzi and of course, their family and friends. Their honeymoon in Egypt was a blast, and a pair of twins soon added into the new Stoppable family, namely Elizabeth Jay and Joey Kay Stoppable. Kim’s popularity as a singing crime-fighter soared even higher and made into all halls of fame. There is no one in the whole wide world who didn’t know Kimberly Anne Possible—now Kimberly Anne Stoppable—and her husband Ronald Kennedy Stoppable or didn’t remember that fateful day and incident at the concert theatre Upperton Town.

            Yet, sometimes at night, when Ron stayed awake at night to write Kim’s new song, he would stare at the mirror for a while and sure enough, his bright blood-red heart could be seen and heard beating away softly as if it had never been broken before. And as he looked up at the starry sky, he would think of The Broken-Hearted and his collection of broken hearts in chains and the three spirits of his Valentine’s Day Time.

            “You see? I kept my promise. I remembered.”

**Author's Note:**

> That song up there is fictitious. I wrote it myself. I hope it didn’t suck too badly; I ain’t really good at writing poems or songs and stuff.


End file.
